In her book, Adriatico, Paola Bacchia digs down into the culinary culture of Italy’s Adriatic coast, where food is marked by regional differences but unified by the sea.

What’s your connection to the Adriatic Sea?
My father was born right on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, less than a mile from it. When he was born, his birthplace was in Italy, but now it’s in the Istria region of Croatia, a town that’s now called Pula. Around 90% of the people in Pula were Italian, so the majority left and people from other parts of what was then Yugoslavia came and populated the area. My mother is from a town near Venice. We also lived in Italy in a town on the Adriatic Sea, so it’s a place that very much connects with me.

What areas did you cover and how does the Adriatic coast link them?
My interest in the Adriatic starts in Istria, but this book is about the Italian coast. All the way from Trieste in the north — about a mile from the border with Slovenia — right down to Santa Maria di Leuca, which is one of the most southerly points of the Italian peninsula. It’s eight regions in total.