Ex stabilimento Florio delle tonnare di Favignana e Formica, Archaeological museum in former tuna factory, Favignana, Italy.
The former Florio facility is a large stone structure on the waterfront with high rooms and arches that still show its past as a tuna processing plant. The complex spreads across several connected areas right by the water, where fish was once processed and stored.
The Florio family took over the site in the 1870s and turned it into one of the major tuna factories in the Mediterranean. The plant operated until the late 1970s and employed many workers from the region for generations.
The building tells the story of how local fishermen worked with tuna for centuries, their skills passed down through families and their methods shaped by the sea. You can see how this place was once the center of daily life for entire communities on the island.
The site sits right on the waterfront with easy access from the harbor. Wear sturdy shoes since the old stone floors are uneven and some areas become narrow.
The site still has original steam cooking equipment that Vincenzo Florio invented, which changed how tuna could be preserved. These machines show a piece of 19th-century innovation that few visitors realize is actually there.
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