Trabucco
The trabucco (Italian pronunciation: [traˈbukko]; in some southern dialects called trabocco or travocco) [1] is an old fishing machine typical of the coast of Gargano, is protected as historical monuments by the homonym National Park. Spread along the coast of southern Adriatic especially in the Italian provinces of Foggia, Campobasso, and Chieti and also in some parts of the coast of southern Tyrrhenian Sea.
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[edit] Construction features
A trabucco is a massive construction built in structural wood, which consists of a platform anchored to the rock by large logs of pine of Aleppo, jutting out into the sea, from where two (or more) long arms called antemna stretch out suspended some feet above the water and supporting a huge, narrow-meshed, net (called trabocchetto).
The morphology of the Gargano coast and of Abruzzo determined the presence of two different types of trabucco: the Garganic trabucco is usually anchored to a rocky platform, longitudinally extended to the coastline, from which the antenna depart.
The variant of Abruzzo and Molise, also called bilancia, often insists on shallower coasts and therefore is characterized by the presence of a platform, transversal to the coast, which is connected by a tight bridge made of wooden boards. A bilancia has just one winch, often electrically operating, even when the sea is perfectly calm. Abruzzo bilancia has also a net much smaller than that of Gargano trabucco, another feature that differentiates the two types is the length and number of antennas, more extensive Gargano (also double that of Abruzzo and Molise) in Termoli balances were more than two antennas, Gargano always two or more.[2]
[edit] History
According with some historians of Apulia, the trabuccco was invented in the region imported from Phoenicians. The earliest documented existence dates back to 18th century, during which Gargano fishermen, during that period sparsely populated, devised an ingenious technique of fishing which wasn't subject to weather conditions in the area. Trabucchi were built in the most prominent promontories jutting nets out to sea through a system of monumental wooden arms: a trabucco allows to fish without having to be submitted to sea conditions using the morphology of Gargano rocky coast.
The trabucco is built with traditional wood Aleppo pine -the typical pine of Gargano and common throughout the South-Western Adriatic- because this material is virtually limitless (for his dissemination in the area) modeled, elastic, weatherproof and resistant to salt (trabucco must resist to strong Mistral usually blowing in these areas). Some trabucchi have been rebuilt in recent years, thanks to public funds.[3] However since they lost their economic function in the past centuries when they were the main economical source of entire families of fishermen, trabucchi rose into the role of cultural and architectural symbols and tourist attraction.
[edit] Fishing system
The fishing technique, however efficacious, is "on sight". Consists in intercepting, with wide nets, the flows of fish moving along the ravines of the coast. The trebuchets are located where the sea has asufficient depth (at least 6 meters), and erected on the shelter of rocky peaks generally oriented towards SE or NO in order to exploit the favorable marine current.
The network is lowered into the water through a complex system of winches and, likewise, promptly pulled up to retrieve their catch. At least two men are entrusted with the tough task of operating the winches in charge of maneuvering the giant network. Small trabucchi of Abruzzo and Molise Coast is often electrically powered.
The trabucco is managed at least by four fishermen (who share the duties of watching the fish and maneuvering), called "trabuccolanti".
[edit] Distribution
The trebuchets are a distinguishing feature of the coastal landscape of the lower Adriatic. Their presence is also attested on the lower Tyrrhenian Sea.
Disseminated throughout the Gargano coast, more widely present in the area between Peschici and Vieste (where there isn't any promontory whitout one of these giant structures), the ancient trabucchi are protected by the National Park of Gargano, which adopted them as a sign of respect for tradition and environment of the Gargano, as a symbol of civilization, are now following the favorite subject of artists and craftsmen. Trabucchi are also farther north, where are those called travocchi (in dialect of Molise and Abruzzo) in the province of Campobasso, Termoli, Chieti and south of Ortona (Costa dei trabocchi).
[edit] Notes
- ^ original meaning is trap or deep trap, then the term was applied to high military wooden construction (trebuchet) and over several centuries, was used in the Middle Ages to besiege rivals fortresses. See: Ottavio Lurati,Toponimi e Géologia, in Semantic, XXIX, Number 2, December 2008, 446.
- ^ I trabucchi del Gargano, by Maria Teresa Rauzino, Rita Lombardi, Raffaella Specchiulla, Ignazio Polignone, 2007
- ^ such as the Abruzzo regional law n. 99 of 16/9/1997
[edit] References
- Paula Hardy, Abigail Hole, Olivia Pozzan, Puglia & Basilicata, 2008, ISBN 1-74179-089-1, page 93
- P. Barone, L. Marino, O. Pignatelli, I Trabocchi, Macchine da pesca della costa adriatica, CIERRE edizioni, 1999 (Italian)
- M. Fasanella, G. De Nittis, Il Trabucco, Vieste FG, Grafiche Laconeta, 1992 (Italian)
- Pietro Cupido, Trabocchi, Traboccanti e Briganti, Ortona CH, Edizioni Menabò, Libreria D'Abruzzo
- Teresa Maria Rauzino, Rita Lombardi, Raffaella Specchiulli, Ignazio Polignone, I trabucchi della costa garganica (Italian)
[edit] See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trabucchi |
Trabucco's area of diffusion
Area of diffusion of Trabocco or Bilancia variants
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