Oldest Cannery Houses Italian Tuna Fishing History

Europe’s oldest tuna factory is located in Favignana, in the south of Italy, and currently serves as a museum about the first industrial canning of tuna. It also depicts the history of Sicily’s bluefin fishing and its fishermen. The Florio family built the facility in 1859 and the iconic nineteenth-century complex is now an industrial architectural heritage. Founder Vincenzo Florio invented the process of preserving bluefin by a steam cooking process and canning the fish in oil. This revolutionized the tuna canning industry and made his business a success.

The plant closed in 1977, but the areas where processing and landings of the fish took place remained intact. The shelters for the boats, the terrace where the nets were hung to dry, the cooking facility with the large red brick fireplaces, and the atrium with the original counters where the fish was canned are still there. The museum also shows the history of the Mattanza, the Sicilian bluefin fishing method and tradition, which has largely disappeared. The method is similar to the Spanish Almadraba.