Tuna of Vendicari
The tuna trap of Vendicari, also called Bafutu, i.e. of Capo Bojuto in ancient times, was a tuna trap of return, that is, a trap that fished tuna and mackerel that returned to the open sea after the mating season.
In the heydays it counted up to 44 tonnaroti and 2 rais plus about fifty small terraces that dealt with the repair and transformation of the catch.
We have certain news of the Vendicari or Bajuto tuna fishery only starting from 1600 when a process of liquidation and privatization of the royal patrimony was activated on the island, in order to replenish the state coffers, including tuna traps.
In 1655 Vendicari was bought together with the three sisters of Marzamemi, Fiume di Noto and Santa Panagia by Simone Calascibetta, judge of the Royal Court of Palermo, who became a Baron with the acquisition of the tuna traps. Throughout the mid-1600s, the tuna traps in eastern Sicily were monopolized by the Nicolaci family: their dominion over tuna fishing made them rich and influential entrepreneurs until recently.
Conditioned by the nearby traps of Marzamemi and Pozzallo, more efficient and favored by better environmental contexts, the trap of Vendicari was subject to periods of lean and even closure in the second half of the 1800s.
The activity flourished again during the last century, registering a consistent increase in the catch. It was in that context that a nobleman from Avola Antonino Modica Munafò, already in possession of the Vendicari salt pans, was granted the entire plant in concession: thus starting a profound restructuring on the remains of the old eighteenth-century structure.
Text source: https://www.riserva-vendicari.it/tonnara-vendicari/
Other sources: https://reimar.it/puntodi interesse/provincia-di-messina/
Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero
Information contributions: Web
Photo: By Mikuzz – https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikuzz/1273695039/sizes/o/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4681066
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