What comes on the plate when you order fish in Italy? Well, a fish. A whole fish, usually--and with a head and all the other things a fish has when it comes from the sea.
Fish in Italy is often served whole, baked in a salt crust or with potatoes and tomatoes. Baked fish, fish cooked in the oven, is called pesce al forno. It will almost always be served with the head on. There's a good reason for this.
You see, once you take the head off a fish and a bit of the skin, you've removed much of the clues to the identification of that fish. So what? Well, are you getting what you paid for? You need to know that much of what we eat in the US is intentionally mislabeled for profit motives.
Besides, to be true Italian, you need to eat the tender little nuggets of fish around the head. They're the best of the critter's flesh. Why throw them away?
The restaurant shown in the video is the Ristorante Il Delfino in Porto Santo Stefano on Monte Argentario in the Maremma region of Tuscany. The fish depicted in the video is ricciola, the Mediterannean amberjack.
Find out more about Monte Argentario in the Maremma.
Find out what food you might find on an Italian restaurant menu and how to order: Italian Menu Master.
The Cagliari Fish Market (Sardinia)
How to shop in an open air market