In Abruzzo, green region of Europe characterized by ever changing landscapes, there is a part of coast that stretches towards the south, made unique by the presence of ancient fishing machines on stilt houses anchored to the rock. They are known as Trabocchi: bridges between sea and land.
“…On a bank of rocks the Trabocco stretched, a strange fishing machine, constructed entirely of beams and planks, like a colossal spider-web…”. Thus D’Annunzio narrated these marine constructions of complex engineering dating back to the seventeenth century and which still today characterize the coastline so much to be its symbol and to give the name to this stretch of land: Costa dei Trabocchi.
Along this incredible coastal strip that cuts through valleys and hills and that stretches from Ortona to Vasto, during our tour of the region’s seas and mountains we discovered, in Rocca San Giovanni, Trabocco Punta Tufano.
Collected by Rinaldo Verì in 2004, current owner, and rebuilt in 2006, Trabocco Punta Tufano is a virtuous example of recovery and enhancement of an abandoned facility restored to new life. In this place turned into an exclusive restaurant on the sea, it is possible to taste culinary delights expertly prepared together with excellent local wines, in the suggestive atmosphere of the trabocco. But Punta Tufano is much more than this: it is a space that preserves memory, which handed down its history and that of the territory to which it belongs. Not just a restaurant where you can taste the typical dishes of the seafaring tradition, therefore, but also a place that promotes itself to keep its origins alive and make them known to most.
History, recovery of traditions, local craftsmanship, typical local products are the elements that are intertwined in the new networks of the historic fishing machine of Trabocco Punta Tufano and that make this place of infinite shades a real Treasure of Italy.
The coastal territory of the province of Chieti is characterized by fascinating and ingenious fishing machines anchored discreetly but tenaciously in the natural rocky outcrops: the trabocchi.
The cultural identity, the ancient and traditional fishing technique and the typical spontaneous architecture handed down through the centuries to the present day, represent firm points that accompany their recent recovery, albeit in a new perspective also linked to tourism and seafood gastronomy. Taking inspiration by these fundamental principles that in 2004 we began the reconstruction of the historic Trabocco of Punta Tufano.
The homonymous cliff hosts trabocchi since 1700. The last of the series did not resist the storm that raged on New Year’s Eve in 1979.
Following the exciting and demanding construction’s phases, as our ancestors did, we completed the work in July 2006, making it immediately visible. Later the Trabocco opens up to various activities that aim to make it familiar with, along with the territory that hosts it, which in the meantime takes the name of Costa dei Trabocchi.
Today, as then, we welcome groups of tourists and visiting schools, highlighting the historical, constructive and cultural aspects of these unique buildings made in robinia wood, completing the visit with the descent in the trabocco’s network, involving out guests in the maneuvers and gestures that accompany the fishing activities.
Furthermore, our trabocco has also become a showcase for typical local productions, some of which are produced directly in our laboratory.
Do not miss the seafood restaurant that in the bathing season allows you to taste the simple traditional dishes in a particularly appreciated atmosphere.
Translated by Valentina Di Martino
Contacts
Trabocco Punta Tufano
C.da Vallevò 78 – 66020 Rocca San Giovanni (CH)
Tel: +39 333 443 6831
Email: infoturismo@traboccopuntatufano.it
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