Architetture del mare. Un metodo per lo studio delle tonnare

The theme of tonnare lends itself to a multiplicity of approaches and allows for the development of different research paths, all however integrated to form a single and extensive body of studies, intimately linked to the places where the factories were built. If, on the one hand, tuna fishing has recorded the transformations of land management and the evolution of socio-economic contexts and legal-administrative frameworks in the various historical periods, on the other, it has traced a continuous line of evolution of the civilization of the sea in a symbiotic relationship between man and nature. Moreover, the fact that this type of fishing was carried out between the coast and the sea has meant that many of the traces produced by men are still legible on the seabed in close symbiosis with the processing facilities on land. These aspects have suggested a new approach to the study of the signs, tools and contexts related to the mattanza, strongly interdisciplinary and supported by an active use of digital technologies for the production and management of information. The study currently underway along the coasts of south-eastern Sicily, born from the collaboration between the Federico II University, Stanford University, Brock University and the Soprintendenza del Mare della Regione Sicilia, intends to develop a research methodology focused on the analysis of spaces, both architectural and natural, in relation to the processes of use that have occurred over time.