When Brits go on holiday to Italy one of their favourite things is the food of course. Pasta, pizza, ice-cream, regional delicacies, fresh fish, creamy cheeses and delicious desserts to name but a familiar few. But in one pretty little town in Tuscany, if you close your eyes and just sniff, you might be forgiven for thinking you are back in the UK.
The unmistakable whiff of fish and chips is always wonderful but not what you'd expect in Italy. But the distinctive aroma of fish and chips has been wafting through the Italian medieval town of Barga every summer since the early 1980s. The Sagra del Pesce e Patatem or Fish and Chip Festival takes place on the home ground of the local football team, AS Barga, at the Johnny Moscardini stadium, named after the only Scottish-born male footballer who has played for Italy.
The event raises funds for the club and also a number of charities. Benches at the festival are filled over the course of about a fortnight with Italians, Scottish-Italians and other visitors sampling the delights of one of the UK's most popular takeaways. "The festival - dedicated to the Scottish dish of the fish supper - is a tribute to the history and tradition of emigration from Barga to Scotland," explains one of the organisers, Leonardo Mori.
"It is undoubtedly one of the events that best represents the link between Barga and Scotland." But the long-standing link between this Tuscan town and Scotland goes back much further than the 1980s. Many emigrants at the s.