In “Che Ti Dice La Patria?” a short story by Ernest Hemingway, the characters drive through Liguria from La Spezia to Genoa to Ventimiglia, eating spaghetti, steak, potatoes, bananas, and wine. While they probably could have eaten more classical Ligurian cuisine, there is an interesting detail that Hemingway caught: When the characters dine at a trattoria in La Spezia, the only fruit available for dessert is bananas. This is not a native fruit, but La Spezia has long been the chief port of delivery of exotic fruits for central and northern Italy. The city has numerous fancy fruit shops offering dried fruits from the Middle East and North Africa, bananas from Africa and Central America, pineapples from Hawaii and the Philippines, and all sorts of luscious fruits from Brazil. While most Ligurians enjoy their divine local fruit, the people of La Spezia also enjoy magnificent fruits from all corners of the world. My favorite shop is Giuseppe Panattoni at Piazza Garibaldi 23, where ancient posters from Chiquita, Del Monte, and Dole bespeak a time when bananas were an exotic and precious commodity.
