Salvatore Pollastrini began packing sardines in Anzio, a port town south of Rome on the Tyrrhenian coast, in 1889. The Sepe family acquired the company in the 1950s and has run it since, maintaining the original production methods. Pollastrini is the only Italian company that cans Mediterranean sardines. The fish are still caught at night using the gozzo, a traditional boat fitted with lampare, lights that draw sardines to the surface, pulling them aboard intact without damage.