I don’t have a clue if the man in this picture inspired the name of this place, but I like the idea that it could be him!
Hi, this is Erica, (Tuscany Tunes) the music ego of Tuscanycious, and in the week between the 21st and 25th July, I stayed in Livorno to report the Italia Wave Love Festival and update all TuscanyTunes Fans about what was going on from the Wake up, Psycho and Main stage (here you can find the festival reviews). But let’s talk about food 
!
Well of course during my stay I needed to eat , the first days I had to rush and I had to have a quick lunch in order to be able to follow all the bands, but I also started to test the territory, asking around which was the nearest and best place to eat. Different people all gave me the same answer, L’Ostricaio!
So, finally, after the second day, I managed to organize myself so that during lunch time I could cut out some time for a proper lunch and I booked at L’Ostricaio also known as “Stuzzicheria di mare” ( “Sea snack shack” I love this definition!).
L’Ostricaio is a really small kiosk with only 35 seats (including inside and outside).
In Livorno there are several seafood shacks like this one, along the seaside. On the road side L’ostricaio sells seashells as a fish shop, so people come here from the beach and have a quick “snack” with raw shirmps and other specialities. Inside and on the “beach side” it’s an actual restaurant with 20 seats inside and not more than 15 outside in a cosy wooden porch that overlooks the Tyrrehnian Sea.
This is the view from the outside porch.
Amongst the starters, salt cod and sardines in pesto sauce, octopus salad, small cuttlefish, prawns and string beans and smoked herring. On one day I had Mussels sautè, so tasty, delicious for a light start!
But the most intense pleasure I had at Ostricaio was given by some delicious, fresh, slightly lemony oysters: a real orgy of taste!
Main Dishes: Spaghetti allo scoglio, gnocchi with vongole and gorgonzola, ravioli with sea bass.
All the main dishes were delicious! I could see a huge smile in the faces of those around me
Main Fish courses: They normally vary according to seasons and to what has been fished that day. I only had a mixed fried fish, crunchy and fresh; but the menu includes crab, langoustines, lobsters, prawns, clam and mussel sautè.
There are wines of any kind: table wines but also some doc and docg wines and supertuscans.
The menu also offers different deserts, I tried tiramisù, which was really good.
Also try the sgroppone (alcoolic) and sgroppino (no alcool) to help you digest.
As we’re in Livorno (Leghorn) at Ostricaio you can also find the most famous local drink “Ponce alla livornese”: the typical hot drink with coffee, rhum, lemon and secret ingredients .
L’Ostricaio dosen’t have a web site but has a Fan Page.
It’s closed on Mondays
Viale Italia, 100, 57127 Livorno
+390(586)581345
