“A day's walk from Palermo, (...) there is a place called 'At Tarbî'ah, an enchanting place, full of springs that give life to several water mills. 'A Tarbî'ah has a plain and vast farms where so much pasta is produced that it is exported to all parts, especially to Calabria and other Muslim and Christian countries. (...) In the port of this town you can catch that great fish called tuna."
From these few sentences taken from Nuzhat al-mushtaq fi ikhtraq al-afaq or, much more simply, The Book of Roger, written by the Muslim geographer El Edrisi, we learn that in 1154, a few miles from Palermo, the magnificent capital of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, and not far from the Norman Cefalù, there was a village called 'At Tarbî'ah where there was one of the richest and most active tuna fisheries in Sicily, defended by a nearby Norman watchtower. Furthermore, its industrious citizens exploited the hydraulic power of the local springs to operate some water mills for the production of durum wheat, with which to make a rudimentary form of thread-shaped pasta corresponding to modern “vermicelli”, itriya in Arabic.
Considered one of the most precious jewels of the Sicilian Crown, the Tonnara and the nearby Norman Tower remained in the state possessions of the Kingdom for a long time until, weakened by the long wars against the Angevins of Naples, the Kings of Sicily were forced to sell them to private individuals. Frederick IV ceded it to Bettino Cipolla in 1375; King Martin the Younger assigned them to one of his followers, a certain Lombardo de Campo.
In 1444 Trabia, no longer a village, but still rich in waterways and equipped with a tower, a warehouse, two mills and a tuna fishery, was granted in emphyteusis to Leonardo di Bartolomeo, prothonotary and president of the Kingdom of Sicily, who the following year redeemed it from King Alfonso V of Aragon, and gave it to his daughter Aloisia, who married Blasco Lanza from Catania. Don Blasco was soon invested with the title of baron of Trabia and in 1509 he had a castle built near the Norman tower. His nephew, Ottavio Lanza de Centelles, was invested with the title of 1st prince of Trabia with a privilege granted on 22 July 1601. He further expanded the local castle and founded the city of Trabia.
After the Second World War, the Sicilian tuna fisheries became less and less productive and were closed. Today both the Tonnara di Trabia and the adjacent castle are privately owned. The imposing and renowned Hotel Tonnara is located in the carefully restored Tonnara building, a few steps from the mighty Castle and the small village of Trabia. In recent years, the hotel has become a sought-after location where international events, conferences and banquets take place.
