Former Florio Plant of the Tonnare of Favignana and Formica

A magnificent testimony of industrial archaeology transformed into a multipurpose museum.

Built with the local tuff, the former tuna factory of Favignana is an elegant nineteenth-century complex of industrial archeology that overlooks the port.  

This tuna factory, built in 1859 and greatly enlarged since 1878, was owned by the famous Florio family, whose dynasty was started by Vincenzo Florio senior (1799-1886), a brilliant businessman transplanted in Palermo who had made his fortune thanks to maritime expeditions and the production of sulfur and Marsala wine. 

Vincenzo Florio was also responsible for the invention of a new steam cooking process for the preservation of canned tuna, revolutionizing the fishing industry and consolidating the success of his family. Its vast rooms, in operation until 1977, show all the phases of tuna procurement and processing: the shelters for the ready boats, the terrace where the tuna was hung to dry, the cooking battery and the large red brick fireplaces and, finally, the large atrium with the original counters where the fish was canned.