Old Florio Factory

The tuna-fishing factory or also Ex Florio Factory of Favignana and Formica tuna-fishing nets

The building is an old tuna-fishing ground which includes the factory where they worked the fish to be stored. Today it has become a fascinating museum where both tradition and innovation are celebrated. On April and May, the Florio Factory is open from 10:00 to 14:00. On June, it opens at 10: 00 and closes at 17:00. From July to September 10:00 to 13:30 and from 17:00 to 23:00.

The Ex Florio Factory of  Favignana and Formica tuna-fishing nets, is an old tuna-fishing ground which includes the factory where they worked the fish to be stored. It covers 32 thousands squared meters and is one of the widest in the Mediterranean sea. The Florios rented it from the Genoese Pallavicini and asked the architect Damiani Almeyda to enlarge and renovate it. It was the first building of this kind where new storing proceedings were invented and which granted a nursery for its workers children. In 1991 the place was bought by Regione Siciliana and re-arranged to become the fascinating place it is today: a singular archaeological industry museum. Besides the rooms once used in order to store the big boats and to work and preserve the fish, other rooms house an original museum which links the local tradition with technological vanguards.
It includes an antiquarium preserving founds from the Punic battles among which amphoras, a statue without its head, a Roman rostrum.  There is a space dedicated to Florios' history and two charming multimedia installations where a real tuna-fishing takes place and where people who lived around this activity tell us about their experiences with holographic projections. There are several pictures exposed and  a didactical  area wich explains the different stages of the tuna-fishing; a room is dedicated to the storage systems used in the factory. Where had been the engines today is a wide conference room.