The recovery of Camparìa, from tuna trap to emotional journey
In Favignana, jewel of the Egadi Islands, nestled between the slopes and the sea rests the old tuna fishery. Once a valuable source of survival for the inhabitants, today it is a symbol of an enlightened business family and the island as a whole. From the ancient commercial glories of the Florios to the conservative redevelopment project that will close in 2024, we rummage through the history of a 32,000-square-meter giant that From a theater of slaughter becomes an emotional path with a tourist vocation.
Camparìa heart of Favignana, now as then
The tuna fishery of Favignana tells a 160-year history of fishing and life. In the Camparìa, the old warehouses, boats, anchors, nets and tools for big game hunting were kept, tuna in oil was preserved for the first time, days were consumed where everything revolved around the slaughter.
Camparìa, because the tuna fishery gave the whole island a ‘livelihood’. To the fishermen, engaged in slaughtering in summer and maintaining the ‘muciare,’ the traditional boats, in winter. To women, intent on mending nets. And then to carpenters, laborers, blacksmiths. Men would enter it as children and leave as old men. A ‘death chamber’ that used to feed the entire island and is now regaining its vitality thanks to a major project by conservative rehabilitation, respectful of traditional building techniques and attentive to the local cultural heritage.
Camparìa is an architectural complex of buildings alternating with open spaces, the heart of the largest fish workshop in the Mediterranean, located on one of the main migratory routes of bluefin tuna. Here the course of fish in love was being diverted forever, to become first food, then the commodity of forward-looking entrepreneurship. The Camparìa’s wide, high spaces allowed the tuna fishermen at work optimal air recirculation even in scorching summers, kilometer-long nets could be spread and muciare could be transported to the storage area nimbly.
Today these vast spaces are a clearly impressive example of industrial archaeology. A three-aisle layout, almost a Gothic cathedral, where light creeps and soars through the vaults, then reveals scenic nighttime atmospheres with museum-like charm. Passing through aisles and columns, the white sandstone walls, the very essence of the land, return shells and fossils, witnesses of an ancient experience.
Here begins an emotional journey that tells the story of Favignana and its tuna fishery, linked in a way indissoluble, a museum space that has been open since last June and continues to expand. To the findings on display, including amphorae and artifacts from the age prehistoric, a headless statue and the Flask of the Pilgrim, are interwoven with evocative holographic installations dedicated to the reconstruction of the death chamber and the passionate recounting of experiences in the tuna fishery.
Camparìa is a project rooted in the memory of the place and with a contemporary soul. So amidst scenes of tuna processing, ancient tin cans set up in the ‘oil room,’ the 24 boilers where tuna was sheared and dried, peeps a permanent exhibition of the major Magnum photographers. The itinerary dedicated to the history of the island and the Florios continues in the Bottega, among the volumes of the island’s first bookstore, the ceramics, textiles, wicker artifacts by local creatives, and small olive oil cosmetics from Favignana.
A seat in the front row
Beyond the courtyard, among old anchors that secured the slaughtering nets, the warehouse’s imposing aisles encroach into a spectacular infinity terrace overlooking the sea with breathtaking views. The gaze wanders between sea and sky, encounters magenta-colored bougainvillea and ultra-white houses surrounded by Mediterranean scrub. On the ashes of the storage area rises a magnificent living room at the water’s edge, accessible by land or by sea by docking at the quay. A refined lounge bar dotted with sails, amid walls of tufa and quicklime, furniture forged from majestic timeworn wooden planks and ancient seafaring chains worn down by salt, rope seating, raw fiber fabrics, colors inspired by land, sand and sea, and even woven willow lanterns, lamps made of recycled paper in the style of old creels, roots and coral.
A refined, vaguely shabby space created by salvaging abandoned Camparìa pieces. Here the bow of the old
Buonagurio or wild wild-grown wild olive trees become real scenic backdrops. Island materials, respect for the soul and traditions of the place, enhancement of ancient knowledge and attention to sustainability, in materials and in the selection of those who create and produce. The lounge offers the best of local culinary traditions, from breakfast, healthy or savory, to light lunches of salads, raw fish, hand-hulled couscous, and freshly picked spices, to aperitifs to the sound of music, to dinner and after-dinner drinks.
The day in Camparìa begins early, just as it once did, and comes alive until evening with a vital swarming, that of the voices of hard-working tuna fishermen once upon a time, today of local workers, emerging artists, of the people who return here to meet through culture and love of the land. A 20 minutes from Sicily, this terrace offers one armchair at first row at sky by Favignana. On the clear blues of its Mediterranean days and the dense orange of its sunsets, which on the horizon turns to purple and streaks with saffron, until the sun no longer indulges and the sea goes out.
Between the vasceddi of the trizzane and Nido Pellegrino
A true architectural masterpiece, the trizzane are a majestic structure of 13-meter-high pointed arches. By themselves they are worth a walk, among ancient vasceddi now at rest, helpless and nostalgic for past exploits. From 2023, the trizzane will become a gathering place and center of cultural activity with events, art and music performances, temporary exhibitions, and readings. The spirit of mutual help and exchange, an inescapable quality to life in the tuna fishery, will be revived again thanks to a large program of international collaborations. Completing the ambitious project will be the redevelopment of Nido Pellegrino, once a military complex, from the spring 2024 resort. About 20 rooms, a spa and a bioemotional park dedicated to local flora and fauna, draw routes e scenarios in areas less beaten but identity of the island, to dive into the charm of Favignana’s hinterland.
Donna Franca’s boat
The Florios, owners of the Aeolian Islands and Favignana, were undisputed architects of the place’s wealth between the 1800s and 1900s. Enlightened, forward-thinking, they employed more than 200 men in the tuna fishery and processed more than 10,000 tuna a year with techniques that were cutting edge for the time. Donna Franca Florio, who took refuge on the island after the tragic loss of her children, liked to go personally to watch the slaughter. She was the only one allowed to go to the death chamber besides the rais. Her spear, a 7-foot 20-foot work of an English shipwright, finely recovered, will return home to Camparìa, and a dense cultural program will revolve around it: harp concerts, book presentations, and exhibitions dedicated to the excellence of the area, such as Marsala and its 19th-century barrels, a jewel of enology.
A slow project
The recovery of Favignana’s tonnara fits perfectly into the territory, in unison in style, flavor, scents, consistent with that slow living proper to island life. Visiting the tuna fishery is not just retracing a fishing history. Rather, it is to participate in a project that respects the memory of the place, a tale in the Sicilian language, made of culture, genuine flavors, ancient knowledge, and a deep relationship with the territory. An authentic, all-Sicilian experience, the kind we like at Magna Sicilia.
by Stefania Capassi