Difficult, but I think oyu need to include "sardine" in the name, as while in Eng. whitebait can refer to various spp., in Italian bianchetti/gianchetti can too, it seems.

Seafood restaurants along the Riviera offer sea bass, prawns, scallops, oysters, lobsters and on occasion cappon magro "lean capon," the wittily ironic name of a monumental salad that contains plenty of fish but no fowl). Coveted are gianchetti or bianchetti (larval anchovies and sardines available only briefly each year) and datteri (date-shells so rare that fishing is banned).

http://www.italianmade.com/regions/foods3.cfm

A special type of fishery legally performed in winter to catch pilchard larvae (according to the Italian legislation still in force) has been investigated along distinct coastal areas of Italy to evaluate its environmental impact. This study shows that Sardina pilchardus larvae and juveniles numerically account for ≥99% of the total catch obtained during the official fishing season approximately falling in January 15–March 15.

Our estimates obtained during winter 1997 on natural mortality of the sardine larvae show that at least 40% of the individuals would even die in unexploited fry shoals. Otolith readings and analysis of modal progression give an average growth rate of 0.36 mm per day for larvae in the 20–45 mm size range at 13 °C water temperature.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T...

BIANCHETTO AUTORIZZATO
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Il novellame di sarda, detto bianchetto, è la grande risorsa del mare del Golfo di Manfredonia
http://www.comune.manfredonia.fg.it/atti/comunicati/com07/co...

Synonyms:

Sardina pilchardus; pilchard; sardine
http://www.audioenglish.net/dictionary/sardina_pilchardus.ht...

'67. The use of trawls, seines or similar nets is prohibited within three nautical miles of the coast except where a derogation is provided for in national legislation. This is the case of the “Bianchetto”(Sardina pilchardus fry) and “Rossetto” (Aphia minuta mediterranea) fisheries, that are codified as “special fisheries”.'
(source, Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/10/29/34429640.pdf, page 13)

This is one of only a few documents combining bianchetto+sardina pilchardus, and elsewhere in the same .pdf, pilchard is also mentioned for the same species. Another one is, http://195.97.36.231/acrobatfiles/MAPDocAcrobatfiles/SPA/Eff...

The Fisheries and Aquaculture Dept. of FAO lists it as 'sardina pilchardus' (without mentioning the Italian 'bianchetto', though) and provides the EN name as 'European pilchard' (or, indeed, sardine), as suggested by desertfox (http://www.fao.org/fishery/species/2910)

http://www.alimentipedia.it/Pesce/Pesce_mare_bianchetti.html

A special type of fishery legally performed in winter to catch pilchard larvae (according to the Italian legislation still in force) has been investigated along distinct coastal areas of Italy to evaluate its environmental impact. This study shows that Sardina pilchardus larvae and juveniles numerically account for ≥99% of the total catch obtained during the official fishing season approximately falling in January 15–March 15.

Our estimates obtained during winter 1997 on natural mortality of the sardine larvae show that at least 40% of the individuals would even die in unexploited fry shoals. Otolith readings and analysis of modal progression give an average growth rate of 0.36 mm per day for larvae in the 20–45 mm size range at 13 °C water temperature.

Author Keywords: Sardina pilchardus; Clupeidae; Larvae; Bianchetto; Fishery; Age; Italy