It’s time to talk food and drink. This is Italy, after all.

I’ll introduce you to one local dish and one high-octane Fanese coffee drink. Both relate to the Adriatic fishing that has been the lifeblood of Fano since before Roman times.  

Spaghetti con vongole e basilico, spaghetti with clams and basil, happens to be the first meal I had after arriving in Bologna last Wednesday. We ate at Il Moro around 5 p.m. (in the hour of apparativo, really, between the meals of pronzo and cena). Antonio, the proprietor, was helpful with our orders. I asked if the clams were from the Adriatic, which is where we were going next.

Of course, he said. They were probably caught by the fishermen of Fano.

In Fano now, I again ordered spaghetti con vongolo e basilico, at Ristorantino da Santin, which faces the pebbly beaches of Fano just across the Viale Adriatico.

With this dish, they bring you an extra bowl for the empty shells of the little clams. You lose count as you pick up each clam and tongue out the butter-soaked meat. If you haven’t mastered the spaghetti fork-twirl, you can bite off what’s hanging from your mouth, as I did. None of this may be the proper way to eat this dish, but it sure was enjoyable.

The coffee drink is called a moretta. They say it was invented by the Fano fishermen to keep them warm and energetic on chilly days like this out on the water. It is served hot in little glasses that show its three layers – foamed cream on top, espresso coffee in the middle, and a mix of cocktails on the bottom. Typically, this is rum and brandy with anise. You mix it with a little spoon, then drink.

This was a good jolt for us at an outdoor table in the Piazza XX Settembre. With no fishing boat to jump into, we wandered off fishing for a local phone store.