Ex Stabilimento Florio delle Tonnare di Favignana e Formica

The former Florio tuna-processing plant in Favignana preserves machinery, boats and photographs connected with the mattanza, alongside archaeological finds from the Battle of the Aegates in 241 BC. Its industrial rooms document the scale of the fishery that shaped the island’s modern history.

Why it matters

The Ex Stabilimento Florio is a major example of Mediterranean industrial archaeology. Tuna was processed through an integrated sequence of catching, cooking, preserving and canning. The CNR heritage institute describes a complex that included processing departments, boat sheds, repair workshops and a nursery for workers’ children. After the fishery declined, the Sicilian Region acquired the abandoned complex in the 1990s and converted it into a museum, retaining machinery, nets, barrels, tins and mattanza boats.

What to notice

The industrial displays include boilers, tanks, barrels, cans and boats used in the mattanza. Photographic exhibitions bring together work by Sebastião Salgado, René Burri, Leonard Freed, Ferdinando Scianna and Herbert List. Video installations preserve testimonies from former tonnara workers. The Antiquarium and the Battle of the Aegates hall display Greco-Roman and Punic objects, including bronze warship rams, Montefortino helmets and a pewter flask. One ram bears an inscription to Baal. Temporary exhibitions have also used the former industrial spaces.

Context and history

The CNR dates the first building block, known as Torino, to 1862, when Giulio Drago was commissioner. Ignazio Florio became owner in 1877, and the complex was expanded between 1881 and 1886 in works attributed to Filippo La Porta. The fishery processed and preserved tuna on an industrial scale. The Parodi family took over in 1936, and production continued into the 1970s. After more than two decades of abandonment, the Sicilian Region acquired the site in the 1990s; restoration in the 2000s preceded its museum use. The archaeological displays connect Favignana with the First Punic War and the naval battle fought in the surrounding waters in 241 BC.