Il polpo - octopus is a very popular food throughout Italy and there are many ways to prepare it.  Octopus can be eaten in stews, pasta dishes, salads, in fishcakes (polpette di polpo), and simply grilled.  

To prepare grilled octopus - il polpo alla griglia - first it has to be tenderised with a small hammer.  Next it is boiled, starting by dipping it in and out of the boiling water several times in order to make the tentacles go curly.  The curly tentacles are called i tentacoli arricciati.

After it is cooked, it is placed in a pan of cold water to cool it down.  Then, it is cut into pieces and placed in a bowl of olive oil, chopped parsley and garlic.  It is left in the bowl for around 30 minutes so that it soaks up the flavours.   Finally, the pieces of octopus are placed on the grill and turned over regularly so that the grilling is evenly done.