Now the property of Cavaliere Pietro Bruno di Belmonte, the tuna fishery at Capo Passero - the extreme south-eastern tip of Sicily where the waters of the Ionian meet those of the Sicilian Channel - was a flourishing centre of production in the twentieth century and today constitutes a splendid monument of industrial archaeology. The loggia and the factory for the working of the fish are still visible, as also the great furnace, the storehouses for the barrels and salt, and the 17th-cent. church. This is where the tuna fish ended their journey. First slaughtered and then processed, for many long centuries they represented a vitally important economic resource for the entire local population. When the tuna fishery was still operative, work would begin in early March on the repair and maintenance of the great oak boats, nearly twenty metres long, which, kept during the winter months in large boatsheds, would be hauled out for the work of pitching the keels. The heavy nets would be looked over and mended. The great anchors, laid strategically on the seabed, created a sort of passageway that to the shouted orders of the rais channelled the fish into the "death chamber". When the mattanza was over, everyone returned ashore to unload the catch: the fish were carried on trolleys to a great hall where they were gutted and cleaned. The next stage was the boiling, done in special ovens, after which came the process of conservation in olive oil.

Different details of Portopalo Tuna fishery

(click on the photos to enlarge)