Eco-friendly reuse of the Mediterranean’s productive heritage. The tonnara di Avola. Il riuso eco-orientato del patrimonio produttivo del Mediterraneo. La tonnara di Avola

Tuna fisheries represent a significant part of the historical, cultural, and architectural heritage of the Mediterranean, and Sicily in particular. The need to preserve and redevelop structures otherwise destined for abandonment and obsolescence, through their repurposing, pushes us to rethink these spaces primarily as productive settlements with strong anthropological, historical, social, and collective value, as well as laboratories for experimentation and knowledge. The opportunity to intervene in the Avola tuna fishery, along the southeastern coast of Sicily, before its state of abandonment permanently removes it from public knowledge and enjoyment, offers the opportunity to identify and propose cultural and collective themes and functions aimed at rediscovering and enhancing a regional production and economic network that brings together the Mediterranean's identity values, with the stories, knowledge, and techniques to be shared and passed down. This is achieved through enhancement interventions that introduce new ways of enjoying and understanding a tangible and intangible cultural heritage that needs to be rediscovered and reinterpreted, combining them with the establishment of an observatory for the study and protection of the marine environment and the activities historically connected to it. Considering the dense network of tuna fisheries that populate the coasts of Sicily, many of which are in ruins, proposing solutions that integrate and connect previous knowledge with opportunities for future research and experimentation can represent a model for the redevelopment, protection, and eco-oriented reuse of productive cultural heritage from an ecological and Mediterranean perspective.