A preserved-fish speciality of Lake Como in Lombardy, made from agone — a freshwater shad (Alosa agone) caught in the lake. The fish are gutted, salted, then dried in the lake air and packed in layers with bay leaves under a weighted press in a tin called a missolta, which gives the dish its name; they cure for months until autumn. To eat, the missoltini are wiped of salt, briefly grilled or pan-warmed, dressed with olive oil and a little vinegar, and served with grilled polenta. They are a recognized traditional agrifood product (PAT) of Lombardy.
Missoltini come from the long lakeside tradition of salting and drying the spring run of agone to lay up food for the year, in an age before refrigeration; lake fishing on Como has been regulated since the Middle Ages. The name is usually traced to the missolta (also missoltina), the round tin in which the dried fish are pressed and aged, though some instead connect it to the dialect for putting fish under salt or into the tub («miss in dul tin»). The fish are taken chiefly in May and June, when the agone are abundant, and the cured missoltini are ready only at the end of summer. They remain a defining dish of the upper Como lake, eaten with polenta.
Intensely savoury and concentrated — months under salt and press drive off water and deepen the flavour, so a single small fish carries a big, oily, almost anchovy-like punch. The flesh is firm and a little dense, salty and rich with a clean lake-fish character; a brief grill crisps the skin and warms the oil. The olive oil softens it and the splash of vinegar cuts the fat and salt, while toasted polenta gives a bland, sweet base to lean against. Properly rinsed and pressed, missoltini are deep and savoury; under-rinsed they are punishingly salty.
Preservation runs on salt and dehydration: salting draws water out of the flesh by osmosis and lowers its water activity, while air-drying removes more, together making the fish hostile to spoilage microbes so it keeps for months. Pressing under weight in the missolta expels air and the rising fish oil, packing the flesh tight and concentrating flavour as the fat-rich agone slowly cures. The bay leaves layered between the fish add aroma and have mild antimicrobial oils. At the table the brief grill warms and lightly crisps the surface, and the vinegar's acidity and the oil balance the high salt and richness the curing has built up.
Variations
Method varies by household and town along the lake — the salting time, the exact press, and whether the fish are now dried in controlled racks or warm cabinets rather than the open lake air. At table they are most often grilled with polenta, oil and vinegar, but also pan-warmed, sometimes finished with parsley, or paired with a wild salad and a local red wine. The agone of Lake Como is the classic fish; the same salt-and-press technique is applied to shad on other northern Italian lakes, under their own local names.
On the Palate
Where Missoltini sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 25 min active + 15 min waiting
- 115 min
Gut and clean fresh agone, then salt them and let them macerate for about a day.
Watch outSalt the agone and let them macerate a full day — this draws the water out and starts the cure that keeps them for months.
- 25 min
Dry the salted fish — traditionally in the lake air, now usually on racks or in a controlled cabinet — until firm.
- 35 min
Pack the dried fish in layers with bay leaves in a tin (missolta), set a weight on top, and press and age them for several months.
Watch outWeight the packed fish under real pressure — pressing expels the air and rising oil so the flesh cures tight, not rancid.
- 43 min
To serve, take out the missoltini and wipe or briefly rinse off the surface salt and oil.
- 56 min
Warm them on a hot grill or in a dry pan just until the skin crisps and the oil heats through.
Watch outOn the grill, warm just until the skin crisps and the oil heats through — this is a quick finish, not a cook-through.
- 62 min
Dress with extra-virgin olive oil, a little vinegar and parsley.
- 73 min
Serve hot alongside grilled or soft polenta.
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