Tiebo on his way to Koi.Lab in Parma
Arrived in Italy; I was last time, but I mean I landed. This time by plane. By car was also cool, but now I have less time and will only visit one place. Off to Italy again for Koi, some will think. Let’s explain…..
Italia and that Carpa Japonese: I love returning to people’s houses to see how things are after some time as also with various breeders in Japan and aforementioned grower Yoshikigoi in Poland. The Italian breeder Koi.Lab also proclaims progress via Facebook every now and then, and I am delighted that this is happening in a southern European country on the Mediterranean Sea.
Novice hobbyists in this country are very eager to learn. There are several Italian dealers I visited last year that I haven’t yet regaled you with in the form of an article on KoiQuestion. Of course, you may still face this, but I don’t want to keep you in suspense any longer about the hobby being upcoming in Italy. I was in Venice, in South Tyrol, in Parma and in Tuscany, in the beautiful city of Florence. Everywhere during my tour, I came across passionate dealers who also seem to work well together. They truly understand that with combined forces they can achieve more in their country than each on their own, but each also knows their own style, niche, approach and Koi. Sometimes consciously, sometimes forced by varying circumstances and market.
Italy is now a bit bigger than our country. They can build ponds and there are also real Koidokteren in Italy about which more later. These are some things that I personally did not expect and overall, you can say that the country with that leaning tower is definitely loyal to those Japanese Koi and is not skewing. Unless you consider Koi bred in Italy to be cheating, but Koi.Lab is also an important player in a healthy ecosystem for the Koi hobby in Italy.
Over the next few days, I will be reaching out to Fabio Ciotti of Koi.Lab. In a series of articles from my previous trip, you could learn about this Koifarm that is doing its best to make Koi a well-known regional product from Parma, in addition to ham and cheese.
Surely, with tosai, the word Koi development fits best and that is what I want to talk about most. In fact, we are going to see the fish we also saw six months ago. These have remained heated inside and I am curious to see how these Koi develop.
This is Fabio’s fourth year as a grower. Primal and not comparable in size to Yoshikigoi in Poland, but Fabio goes for high quality in a number of varieties; Gosanke above all. Jos Aben, the first-time grower in Poland, from the Netherlands, is his great example, but he has never met him. Indeed, in an earlier post I mentioned that Fabio had never been to Japan. A weakness?! Are you a lesser grower if you’ve never been to Japan? Can you not be a good believer if you have never made a pilgrimage? Maybe not? The Koi have to go. To date, I believe it does provide Fabio with his own style and vision of growing. Everything comes from within himself as an autodidact and that in itself is admirable.
In a country with so many good points and culture you would think what do they need the Koi for, but in Italy they do not flout the Koi. Stay tuned and I will share my adventures with you.
