Tonnara di Capopassero, Italy
Realspace Assets LLP offers The Tonnara di Portopalo di Capo Passero, an amazing private island located on the most southern coast of Sicily, in the center of the Meditterranean Sea.
It has a compound building which is very near to the Island of Capo Passero, on which we find the Tonnara Piccola. The entire island, the structures and other elements face the mesmerizing Ionian Sea. There is apparently a rich history that defines this beautiful island. Based on clues from bibliography data, this island pre-existed in the XIII century when King Carlo d’Angiò gave to Simone da Lentini, bishop of Siracusa, the grand privilege of gaining it’s rights, in the form of money and nature of the Tonnara and of the salt pans.
There is another shred of evidence about the existence of the Tonnara di Capo Passero. The testament of Federico II, who died in 1337, as well as the testament of Giovanni Landolina, on the 3rd of September 1461 at the Notary Antonio De Quadrio, judge of Noto more or less, proves that this is the most Antique Tonnara in Sicily.
€ 11.30 Million
- Property Code: LUXAB771
- Location: Province of Syracuse - Italy.
- Property Type: Island
- Land Area : 3,778,132 Sq.ft.
AN ISLAND WITH A RICH HISTORY
Over the past centuries and decades, the Tonnara of Capo Passero has been owned by a string of noble Sicily families.
In 1894 Don Bruno di Belmonte and Modica acquired a quote from Barone Fodera. During the hundred years, Don Pietro Bruno di Belmonte increased the production and thereby the overall commercial value and also managed to create extremely strategic relationships with major influential businesess from Turkey, Spain and Malta, and had made the Tonnara of Capo Passero, a highly influential location. The island has an earmarked area for the maintenance of the boats and a different zone meant for depositing fishing equipment. The entire property has a tremendous historical and organically artistic value. This makes it one of the rare testimonials to the Sicilian industrial archeology and to Sicily’s deeply ingrained culture. This island carries a huge potential to be developed into a heritage landmark and to attract the world to it.
ABOUT THE ISLAND OF CAPOPASSERO
Features in the most elite renowned Società Botanica Italiana, the beautiful island of Capo Passero is indeed magnificently attractive.
Apart from the flora and fauna, the eastern part which is closest to the coast is literally a magic beach due the surreal combination of the sea and the wind.
Myriad migrant birds flying from the coasts of Tunisia come here to add to the glorious natural landscape. The avifauna is also made up of a number of songbird species which go to and the nearby coast of Sicily: fanelli, verdoni, cardellini, beccamoschini, saltimpali, quaglie, tortore and more. We can find a number of species of seagulls on the isolated stumbling rocks and the north-eastern coast.
Fauna
A part from the wild rabbit, on the island lives two types of lizards. Thirty years ago, in the island used to come a Turtle (Caretta Caretta), which she used for making the eggs: this was a spectacular event, which was once common in most of the south-west beaches in Sicily.
Core composition
The island is mainly composed of sedimentary rocks, which are deposited on a lavic base and is covered by a vegetal cover. The island is entirely covered by the dwarf palm and by other forms of typical plants and vegetals like the asfodeli and the asparagus. The dwarf palms, the only spontaneous ones in Europe, used to have in the past bigger dimensions and where largely more diffused. At the time of Cicerone (I° Century A.C.) the people of Verre stayed in Pachino for five days, eating the roots of the palms “Palmarium Agrestium”. In the nearby areas of the beaches, the vegetation is the one typical of the litoral beaches: Euforbia Pepilis, Giglio di Mare and the tipical “Rughetta Marina”.
Revisiting the old days
On the island there are buildings that have been used, when the Tonnara was fully working, as deposit and maintenance of the boats and for the fishing equipment. On the island there are two main monuments. The first is the big Fortezza Svevo Aragonese of Carlo V of Germany and King of Spain of XIV century.
The castle has a squared shape with a side of 30 meters, opened on an internal court. It has been rebuilt by the Netini after the destruction made by the pirate Dragut. A real fortress with a raised level and connected to the church, which once was a prison, and many more areas of the building.
The Castle has been recently restored by the Soprintendenza of BB.CC.AA. of Siracusa.
Art & Culture
At a very short distance from the fortress we can find the statue of Maria SS Scala del Paradiso “Guardian of the Sea of Sicily”. The statue is 5 meters high and is located on a pedistal of 20 meters. It has been made by Mario Ferretti in 1959.
The island has a beautiful landscape which has never been ruined and to this date it maintains the natural elements and characteristics.
