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| An original old net of tonnara, the "Coppu", old caps of products of historic Florio's tonnara and the Bluefin Tuna on one of decorated floors of Giovanni's B&B |
He lives in Bonagia, near Trapani, and his house is in front of the sea, few metres from the old 'tonnara'.
During the morning he goes fishing and no matter what he goes everyday: 'We can meet at 6 p.m.' At 6 p.m.? But does Mr Solina fish all the day? Maybe the fishing for them is like the sleeping for us, a necessity, an essential part of the day and the life, also if you are in retirement, in summer, in fall, till the days are long enough and the sea is calm.
But this fisherman is a weedy man, how could he raise up the tunas, also weighting three quintals, next to other 'tonnaroti' under instructions of 'Rais'? Raising up the tunas isn't simple, the Bluefin Tuna (Red Tuna for us) is heavy and when it's captured in the 'Death Room' (la Camera della Morte) with other fishes, goes crazy, if it makes a flick of the tail while you raise up it with harpoon, you could come to a bad end.
Once 'tonnaroti' (who fishes the tunas) had to be strong like Hercules, maybe today no more, because all big red tunas are captured by Japaneses to make sushi, because it's the best type, with a fat meat, in opposite of the breed called 'Yellow fins' (that one in the tin), the poorest quality.
Today there aren't many tonnare and nobody makes mattanza yet, there are the livestocks. That one in Bonagia there isn't anymore, in Castiglione's Tonnara they knead the terrible yellow fins tuna but luckily the red tuna resists in the markets and small tonnare, also if it's very expensive.
Tuna is like a sea pig, they use every part, 'ventresca' (the most precious and fattest part, the abdomen, that one craved by Japaneses for sushi), 'bottarga' (the female gonad), 'ficazza' (the fine scraps), every part is eaten, even the 'lattume', the sperm. It makes a disgusting impression but it's a gourmet food.
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| The best tuna in the best oil. I'm noticing that Florio's tonnara of Favignana won many prizes |
Before the tonnara wasn't the tuna slaughterhouse but only the ingenious trap invented by Arabs. There was the 'Rais', the supervisor who organised all operations. He was a meteorologist and understood the sea and the tunas. When he found a good place, ordered to cast the nets of tonnara. All fishermen had a competition to capture them because a part of the catch appertain to them. The mattanza lasted hours and hours, sometimes also two days, without a break. Six or seven tonnaroti pull only one heavy tuna and after again, and the sea became red.
Mr Solina repaired the nets or weaved those new ones, before with the hemp, big and thick, for this reason they became too heavy in the water. The humans of the past were really strong, I'm 28 years old and feel ashamed to lament for the backache.
Mr Solina was the only boy who knew how to make knots for the nets, for this reason he was precious and dear for Rais. The nets had to be resistant, to contain the energy of tunas and sea, also after, when they were made with the lighter nylon, the tunas pass near Sicily only in May and making a good nets was a fundamental work because the mattanza brought jobs and money for the total village.
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| The net to put tunas on the pot, the 'Coppu' |
Solina still remembers the knots. Even now, when he comes back home after the fishing, he sits at in veranda and weaves a net, it's a hobby, as the crochet for the grandmothers. It's a hobby for old people, maybe, but there aren't many people who still remember these works and I know that my grandchildren, those which will live on Mars, will never see a such work but sometimes, before going to bed, they will listen the tale of the boy to which the boss with Arab name asked him to make the secret knots to catch fishes.
Anna
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| Mr Solina's works |
We will receive Mr Solina during the Soirée Tonni & Tonnare. He will show his mastery and tell his story :) For more information you can write to granveliero@gmail.com
