The Cannarolo

The Stridolone Fisherman and the Memory of the Cannara

In the popular tradition of Proceno , the Cannarolo was the figure of the local fisherman who, along the Stridolone river , used an ancient handcrafted tool called cannara . This tool, built with woven reeds and vinchi (flexible branches), had the shape of a funnel cone and was placed in the shallow but flowing waters of the river, where at night he managed to catch fish.

Fishing was not a pastime, but a subsistence activity: the catch was sold or bartered to contribute to the poor peasant household economy. The Cannarolo , therefore, was not only a fisherman, but a river worker, tied to the land, to hunger and to the survival of his family.

A local legend tells of a cannarolo surprised by the flooding of the river on a day of bad weather. Instead of abandoning his cannara – precious for the survival of his family – he clung with all his strength to the tool , shouting the phrase that has remained in the collective memory of Proceno:
“Goodbye Proceno, but I won’t leave the cannara…”

This gesture, halfway between sacrifice and attachment, has become a symbol of the identity of Proceno , of its hard-working, stubborn people, deeply attached to the tools of their daily life.