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Up until the mid-20th century, this particular kind of fishing used a system of fixed
nets and large underwater traps, completely different from usual deep sea methods, and

entailed the construction of large buildings and functional work spaces appropriate to the
productive cycle.

These included fenced and covered storerooms for the conservation of the nets, boats

and tools, and areas for the preparation and conservation of tuna in salt or oil (initially using
wooden barrels and then tin). Buildings were also needed to house all the workers who

remained on site during the months of activity (April-June or July-September, depending on
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the passage of tuna along the coast) and to provide essential services to the tuna fishing
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community (taverns, bread ovens, chapels). The architecture of the different tonnare also
varied according to the average volume of production recorded over the years and was,

therefore, based on the importance of the site and on the strength of the site’s profits in

relation to its operational costs. Frequent abundant catches in a tonnara necessitated the
expansion of its structures which had to be defended not only during the active months but

throughout the year since the tonnara storehouses contained boats and tools as well as barrels

of processed tuna that were to be sold locally and abroad.
th
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Generally speaking, the 16 and 17 centuries represented the golden age of tuna
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fishing in Sicily and consequently the heyday of tonnara architecture. However, even if
there was a significant correspondence between the building of the towers and forts to defend

the island and the development of facilities for the fishing industry, this did not mean that an
increase in productivity was determined by copious investments. The use of relevant capital

made it possible for ever greater numbers of owners and tradesmen to “lower” increasingly

elaborate tuna nets and traps. But the reasons for the success of any fishing season are
complex and primarily linked to the biological and reproductive cycles and the behaviour and

migrations of the Mediterranean tuna.
At any rate, it should be pointed out that during these centuries this type of fishing

was of particular interest to bankers, entrepreneurs, aristocrats and merchants because of its
potential for generating great profits, despite the associated high risks. It is not a coincidence

8 R. Sarà, Dal mito all’aliscafo. Storie di tonni e di tonnare, Palermo, 1998; Idem, “Splendore decadenza e spegnimento
delle tonnare siciliane. Una breve rivisitazione millenaria”, in G. Doneddu – A. Fiori (edited by), La pesca in Italia tra
età moderna e contemporanea. Produzione, mercato, consumo, EDES, Sassari, 2003, pp. 500-506.
9 R. Lentini, “Favignana nell’800: architetture di un’economia”, in Lo Stabilimento Florio di Favignana. Storia,
iconografia, architettura, Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA., Trapani, 2008, pp. 15-257.
10 O. Cancila, Storia dell’industria cit.; M. Gangemi, “La pesca del tonno e del pesce spada tra Calabria e Sicilia in età
moderna e contemporanea”, in G. Doneddu – M. Gangemi (edited by), La pesca nel Mediterraneo occidentale (secc.
XVI-XVIII), Puglia Grafica Sud, Bari, 2000, pp. 161-177; N. Calleri, Un’impresa mediterranea di pesca. I Pallavicini e
le tonnare delle Egadi nei secoli XVII-XIX, Unioncamere Liguria, Genova, 2006, pp. 71-78.

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