The life of Antonio Bagnato (Wett): Nelson Italian Festival 2025
#Throwback ⏪: The life of Antonio Bagnato (Wett) 🎣
Italians have been part of New Zealand—and Nelson—for over 150 years, bringing their hard work and often larger-than-life personalities to these shores.
One of them was Antonio Bagnato, also known as Tony Wet/Wett.
Antonio arrived in Nelson in the 1860s from Tropea, Calabria. At just 5’2”, he was small in stature but his personality was anything but.
Funny enough, the name Wett was an anglicisation of his actual surname Bagnato, meaning “wet” in Italian. Fitting, perhaps, for a seafaring fisherman who was as much at home in the water as on land.
Tony soon became a legend on the waterfront, not just for his fishing skills but also for his tall tales and adventures. He once claimed he’d survived three shipwrecks and was famously fearless, especially when swimming. During Port Nelson’s regattas, he played “the duck” in the “Hunt the Duck” event, diving underwater to evade capture, much to the crowd’s delight.
But Antonio’s most famous story involves a shark “with a grudge.” While dissecting a dead shark, its jaws snapped shut on his arm. Badly injured, Antonio fought free and survived, though he was out of work for a while.
In his later years, Antonio became a fish hawker, calling out in broken English as he wheeled his cart through town: “Snappers, flounder, and aresoles!”
Antonio had three children, one of whom, Andrew, changed his last name to “Whitt” – which is how Antonio’s descendants are known today.
📖 This post is inspired by insights from the book Pasta, Prayer and Promise by Price & Stade. Photo: Graham Whitt.
Join us in Lower Trafalgar Street for an even grander celebration of Italian culture and cuisine at the Nelson Italian Festival 2025.
The 2024 festival drew over 5,000 people, and we’re ready to do it again—bigger and better.
Bring your family and your pets, and get ready to savour delicious Italian street food, watch gourmet dishes come to life in our (always sold out) cooking demos, and groove to traditional folk music and dances. Discover unique Italian crafts, perfect for gifts or a treat for yourself. Plus, our biggest classic car and motorbike display yet awaits you…
This special event is brought to you by Club Italia with the support of the Italian Embassy in Wellington, Nelson City Council, Italian Chamber of Commerce in NZ, and Comites Nuova Zelanda.
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