Gianluca Zanutta raises sea bream and sea bass in Carlino, within the Marano Lagoon, one of the most precious and delicate aquatic environments in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Valle del Lovo is a fish farm operating in an extraordinary natural context — the lagoon fishing valleys, ancient water management systems perfected by the Venetians over centuries, which today represent a very rare environmental and cultural heritage.
Here, the fish grow in the lagoon water, breathe with the tides, and eat what the lagoon offers them in addition to feed. Growth times are longer compared to industrial aquaculture — nearly double — but the difference in the final product is radical: firmer flesh, a cleaner flavor, and a completely different structure. Working in the lagoon also means being custodians of an ecosystem: every production choice has a direct impact on the surrounding environment. The lagoon is not a backdrop — it is the company’s primary partner.
The history of Valle del Lovo is a story of listening to the land. Gianluca Zanutta inherited the valley from his grandfather: initially, there were cattle sheds, then attempts were made with vineyards. Ultimately, given the proximity to the lagoon and the sea behind it, it was understood that the most honest choice for the territory was to transform it into a fish farm. Geordie Angiolin, head of sales and fishing, explains their philosophy: less quantity and more quality, where every farmed sea bass takes four years to mature, following its own biological rhythm.
The lagoon valleys preserve something even deeper: the ancient hydraulic architecture of the Serenissima, a system of locks and canals that governs the play of the tides. This technique allows the water from the Adriatic to flow autonomously, oxygenating the environment and cleaning the seabed. The fish grow in this protected ecosystem without being forced and without antibiotics, possessing a vital strength that intensive fish farming can never replicate. The fish does not accumulate visceral fat but develops muscle, because it truly moves, because it truly lives.
What they want people to understand when eating a sea bream or sea bass from Valle del Lovo is that the Marano Lagoon is present in that fish. There is the water, the tide, and the landscape. There is a culture of environmental management that has lasted for centuries and risks disappearing if there is no one willing to carry it forward. You are not just eating fish — you are eating a place.
