2008
The fishing machines
ABRUZZO
Article published in Speciali di Motociclismo magazine in 2008.
"The machine seemed to have a life of its own, to have an air and an effigy of an animated body.
The wood exposed for years and years to the sun, to the rain, to the gusts, showed its fibers .....
it flaked off, was consumed, became white like a shin or shiny like silver or grayish like flint, acquired a distinct imprint like that of a person on whom old age and suffering had done their cruel work .... "
Gabriele D'Annunzio, "The Triumph of Death"
The trabocchi are scattered along the Abruzzo coast, similar to wooden concretions, guardians of the integrity of the coast and the safety of fishing.
Religious chronicles of the 1400s trace them back to the first decades of the 13th century, other scholars prefer to place them in more recent times. Whatever the historical period to which their birth and diffusion date back, these ancient fishing tools continue to induce great charm and to characterize the portion of coast reserved for them by the hand of fishermen of other times with an unmistakable aesthetic figure. Their apparent fragility must not be deceived: neither rough sea nor storm wind will affect their stability, the result of a skilful architectural design. To such an extent that in recent times this "concreteness" has oriented the destination towards a tourist-gastronomic use: some of them have in fact been transformed into original and suggestive restaurants. Fish specialties and sea views are guaranteed!
Read the story published in the magazine.
