Tuna & the Mattanza
The bluefin tuna run and the tonnara of Favignana, the ancient maze of nets, the songs of the tonnaroti, and the mattanza, the bloody and now-vanishing ritual slaughter that fed and defined these islands.
Part of Trapani
4 moments in this segment.
- - The Florio empire. The Florio family industrialise the tuna trade in the 19th century, inventing tuna canned in olive oil and turning Favignana into a company island.
- - The tonnara of Favignana. The great Florio tuna cannery on Favignana, once the largest in the Mediterranean, where the bluefin catch was processed and tinned in oil.
- - The mattanza. The ancient ritual slaughter, bluefin tuna funnelled through a maze of nets into the 'chamber of death', then hauled up by chanting tonnaroti in a churning red sea.
- - The cialoma
