Combining seriousness and fun, or, as one might say in more literary terms, “the serious with the facetious,” is a wonderful opportunity that life offers. The island of Favignana, one of the most beautiful near Sicily, is a great place to do so. In the debate between culture and sensory pleasures taking place on this island in the Egadi archipelago, the sea and good food definitely take precedence and win out. But the history of Favignana, and the museum where part of it is on display, strongly demand their own space and attention. This means that anyone visiting the “Butterfly of the Egadi Islands” should pay a visit, even if only a brief one, to complement the more traditional activities. In Favignana, with its clear waters, seafood, diving, and lively nightlife, there is certainly no chance of boredom.
The question then arises for visitors: which should come first, the serious or the light-hearted? You could agree to give priority to duty over pleasure, but a visit to the former Florio Tuna Factory of Favignana and Formica—as the former tuna factory, now a museum, is called by its full name—cannot be considered a duty. Rather, it is the icing on the cake of a beautiful island that, in addition to offering aesthetic beauty, has so much to tell.
The most widely accepted theory attributes the name Favignana to the Latin term “Favinius,” meaning “favorable wind.” Then, as often happens, there is the theory that traces the name back to the Arabs and the word “Fibiana,” meaning “island of fishermen.” The island is fairly large, 9 kilometers long and 4.3 kilometers wide, with a total area of 19 square kilometers, the largest in the archipelago, which also includes Marettimo and Levanzo. All are easily accessible from the port of Trapani.
Those who arrive in Favignana soon discover that they have chosen their destination well. While it’s painful to say, it must be pointed out that during peak season it has become a little too expensive and overcrowded, so it’s better to visit when it is less busy: before mid-July and from the second half of August onwards. That aside, the crystal-clear water and sublime seafood restaurants make it an enchanting place just thirty minutes by hydrofoil from the port of Trapani, which is an hour or so from Palermo. The island is dominated by Mount Santa Caterina, located more or less in the center of the island and reaching an altitude of 287 meters. The walk to the abandoned 15th-century Saracen castle is beautiful. Once at the top, the view is wonderful, with the other Egadi islands and the Sicilian coast in sight.
Apart from this hill, the island is flat and easy to visit by bicycle, as well as by scooter or car, and access to the beaches is unusually easy from land. The beaches are mainly rocky, and among the most beautiful are the famous Cala Rossa, Cala Azzurra, and Bue Marino. As we mentioned, Favignana also boasts some interesting historical elements, the first of which is linked to the name Cala Rossa, which was so named because of the blood spilled during a battle in the Punic Wars between the Romans and Carthaginians.
Cala Rossa indirectly introduces us to another peculiarity of the island, tuna fishing. The remains of that epic battle are preserved in the former tuna fishery, but to understand the importance of tuna for Favignana, it is not necessary to visit the building, which is now a museum: you just have to arrive on the island. As soon as you dock at the port, you will see on your right the enormous building started by the Florio family in 1878 with the island’s tuff. Further confirmation comes from the local cuisine, in which tuna plays a central role, both on restaurant menus and in shops, where it is sold canned in various cuts. Special mention should be made of bottarga, or tuna roe, which is excellent as a pasta sauce and is typical of this area of Sicily—it’s difficult to find elsewhere.
Here we are inside the former Florio factory, where you can take a historical journey through the fishing industry that has long been a major boost to the area’s economy. A tuna fishery already existed before the arrival on the island of the family of entrepreneurs of Calabrian origin from whom it takes its name, but it was the Florios who expanded it enormously. Without going into the interesting family history, the well-known family began working in the Favignana fishing industry in 1841, when the small tuna fishery that preceded the current one was rented for the first time, then extensively renovated and expanded.
Where the director of the tuna fishery once lived, acting as a link between the owners and the fishermen, today the museum custodian sleeps, and where the workers’ payroll office used to be, today there is the ticket office. The journey that takes us inside the tuna fishery—which, at 32,000 square meters, is one of the largest in the Mediterranean Sea—shows how this was not just a place for fishing, but a reason for living and a source of livelihood for many families on the island, almost all of them. In one of the rooms that now houses the remains of the battle of 241 BC between the Romans and Carthaginians, there was once a nursery for the workers’ children. During the years when fishing was flourishing, despite only taking place from April to July, it managed to support hundreds of people employed in various related trades.
All processes, from catching to canning, took place inside the factory. This included killing, cutting, cleaning, cooking, preparing the tin containers, canning, and selling. In the most prolific year, 1864, 14,020 fish were caught, while the heaviest tuna ever caught in Favignana weighed 647 kilograms (1,426 pounds). It is no coincidence that, in order to combat behemoths of such size, religion was something that not only fishermen relied on.
In the Torino room—which the workers renamed because they believed that the Favignana factory was comparable to that of Fiat—you enter an area with screens that allow you to listen to the direct testimonies of those who worked there. In this, the largest room, you can clearly see the social—and one could say political—impact that this industry had on the islanders. There is no shortage of testimonies – including in the museum’s in-depth audio guide – about what could be described as a kind of “corporate welfare,” consisting of care and attention towards employees.
Photographic tributes to the fascinating and incredible life that revolved around the tuna fishery have been made by international photographers—René Burri, Ferdinando Scianna, Sebastião Salgado, Herbert List—whose photos are on display in the museum’s rooms. The last “mattanza” – the traditional method of fishing with nets – took place in 2007, because it had become environmentally unsustainable, as well as much less productive. Today, the memory of this activity of the past remains, beautifully encapsulated in this museum, which adds to the excellent reasons for visiting the island of Favignana.