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industries (citrus fruit, metal-works, wine, sulphur, etc…) have been lost or destroyed,
sometimes deliberately, with surprising nonchalance, in the case of the tonnare, an

abundance of diverse writings and documentation for both the large and small enterprises is
th
available from the second half of the 19 century. This material includes a vast number of
photos taken by highly regarded professionals as well as amateurs photographers all attracted

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to the cruel ritual of the mattanza (the slaughter of the ensnared tuna with clubs). From this
visual evidence, striking analogies and variations among the different architectural styles

emerge. Moreover, even if there are no two identical tonnare, the photos – more so than
written documents – illustrate essentially intact spaces, phases of work and portraits of the

workers, offering a coherent picture of what the different production sites – today totally
unrecognizable – had in common.

A further reflection, in closing, regards the difficult relation between the architectonic

and preindustrial elements that need to be protected and the areas in which they are located.
This is not irrelevant and I only mention it here to point out the complexity and the difficulty

of any heritage restoration project in which different levels of competence and responsibility

are involved. In the specific case of the tonnare, a more detailed analysis I conducted some
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years ago regarding the pre-existing structures in the area around Palermo has shown that
the grave discordance between these structures and their respective contexts was due to
economic-productive variations over time and to uncontrolled private initiatives, often

resulting in damage to the property in question. However, a census of these aggressions along
the coast in the past decades and in particular of the damage to the towers and the tonnare,

should not only arouse public indignation, but should also induce the local authorities to

adopt rigorous policies that can no longer be postponed. Though a complete return to prior
environmental conditions is not possible, provisions are urgently needed to impede further

disruption of the surrounding areas before the remaining architectonic complexes are
definitely destroyed.

Though the Sicilian tonnare no longer perform their original function, they remain a
precious testimony to the extraordinary experience of the culture of work and to the material

21 Besides V. Consolo, La pesca del tonno cit., see also, in particular: G. Lazzaro Danduso – E. Zinna, La mattanza. Il
ritorno di Ulisse, G. Maimone, Catania, 1987; R. La Duca, La tonnara di Scopello, Grifo, Palermo, 1988; M. Lo
Curzio, L’Architettura delle Tonnare, EDAS, Messina, 1991; G. Martorana, Tonnara, Sellerio, Palermo, 1995; N.
Ravazza, L’ultima muciara. Storia della tonnara di Bonagia, G. Maurici, Trapani, 2000; F. Morreale, Tonnare di
ritorno. Santa Panagia e le altre, Natura Sicula, Siracusa, 2009; Burri – Freed – List – Salgado – Scianna, Tempo di
tonni. Favignana, lo stabilimento Florio, con un testo di Silvio Governali, Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA., Trapani, 2009;
R. Alongi – G. Gini – R. Lentini (edited by), Lo Stabilimento Florio di Favignana. Storia, iconografia, architettura,
testi di Rosario Lentini, Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA., Trapani, 2008.
22 R. Lentini, “Da Magazzinazzi a Cefalù: le tonnare palermitane tra storia e recupero”, in M. Gangemi (edited by),
Pesca e patrimonio industriale. Tecniche, strutture e organizzazione (Sicilia, Puglia, Malta e Dalmazia tra XIX e XX
secolo), Cacucci, Bari, 2007, pp. 91-124.

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