Where does cacciucco come from?

The cacciucco comes from Livorno, on the Tuscan coast: it is a fish and seafood soup tied to the city's maritime tradition. Variants can also be found in the region of Versilia, particularly around Viareggio, but the Livornese version is the best known. Originally, the dish made it possible to cook together various fish, often those that sold less easily at the market; the ingredients and proportions therefore change according to the recipes.

The origin of the word is less certain than that of the dish. One explanation links it to the Turkish küçüklü, associated with the idea of a mixture of small things, but this etymology alone does not tell the whole story of cacciucco. The first known attestation of the term in Italian dates from 1864 ; a recipe was published by Pellegrino Artusi in 1891. You may also hear the legend of the lighthouse keeper of Livorno, who is said to have invented the soup with his fish. It is part of local folklore, but it is better to take it as a story told around the dish than as an established fact.