The history, culture and tradition of Favignana have their roots in the Ex Stabilimento Florio, located a stone’s throw from the island’s historic centre. A good 32,000 square metres make this tonnara one of the largest in the Mediterranean Sea. Purchased by the influential Florio family in 1841 from the Genoese Pallavicini family, it was renovated by architect Giuseppe Damiani Almeyda in 1874. He had the entire structure enlarged and built a building for the preservation of tuna, a revolutionary process for the time, which followed the boiling and canning phases.
Today, you can still see the 24 boilers where the tuna was cut and then dried, and the large room where the milk was processed with welding machines and equipment. Thanks to this renovation, fishing and the market for bluefin tuna were immediately very successful, bringing the Florios to the highest levels of production and boosting profits for the island. Passing from hand to hand to different families, it was then bought in 1991 by the Region of Sicily, which transformed it into an excellent example of industrial archaeology, thanks to the work of the Trapani Cultural and Environmental Heritage Department.
The exhibition spaces include an Archaeological Museum, which collects a number of artefacts found on the Egadi Islands, such as amphorae and other objects from prehistoric times, as well as a headless statue and the Fiasca del Pellegrino, a Roman rostrum. A small section is dedicated to the Florio family: two holographic installations form the death chamber. Here, the experiences of people who worked in the former factory come to life and passionately tell of what happened there. There is also a permanent exhibition of the greatest Magnum agency photographers, educational panels on tuna processing and the ‘oil room’. On display here are the tins in which the fish was preserved. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. The entrance ticket, which can be purchased at the museum, is € 4, while under-18s have free access.