Mattanza: The Ancient Sicilian Ritual of Bluefin Tuna Fishing [Paperback]

Theresa Maggio (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2001

In 1986, love drew Theresa Maggio to Favignana, an island just off the coast of Sicily. There the young journalist encountered the mysterious world of the tonnara-the ritual trapping and killing of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea-and the mattanza, the stunning, bloody climax of the fishing season when the huge fish are wrestled from the sea and killed. Mattanza is the riveting story of Maggio's annual return to witness this timeless struggle between man and the sea. An alluring blend of memoir, history, and travelogue, Mattanza documents an insular and exotic world where the tonnara continues according to ancient ritual even as modern fishing methods edge it towards extinction.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Riveting . . . beautifully and compassionately documents an arcane way of life and death. -- The New York Times

About the Author

Theresa Maggio, the granddaughter of Sicilian immigrants, grew up in the New Jersey Meadowlands. She now works as a freelance travel writer and has written for the New York Times, Financial Times, London Daily Telegraph, and Miami Herald, among other publications.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (July 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141001607
• ISBN-13: 978-0141001609
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,200,352 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars transcended, March 3, 2002

By 

jackie farrow - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mattanza: The Ancient Sicilian Ritual of Bluefin Tuna Fishing (Paperback)

Maggio's words sent me to a time and place that my thoughts could not imagine without a guide to show the way. The startling contrast between the ritual of the tuna slaughter and life in my cozy home nestled by a roaring fire are apparent from the opening pages. A true adventure that reads like a fictitious novel of love for the life and life for the love of a bloody massacre few have witnessed. Sushi? Is it a non-fiction? Is it an advertisement for the gourmet market? Is it a traditon that will endure? Without Maggio's persistant journeys to the site of the tonnora and the substance of a writer without limits, this work would not have traveled to my hands and through my mind.
Inspirational story-telling by an artist that paints through words and colors with the culture and rich tradition of a brutal ritual.
Thank You Ms. Maggio for giving my dreams substance and a sicilian fantasy.
jackie farrow

5.0 out of 5 stars Mattanza:The Ancient Sicilian Ritual of Bluefin Tuna Fishing, July 4, 2011

By 

Marty L. (Bakersfield, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Mattanza: The Ancient Sicilian Ritual of Bluefin Tuna Fishing (Paperback)

I like Theresa Maggio's writing style. This was her first book. I liked her 2nd book better, The Stone Boudoir. That book told of her travels around Sicily which appealed more to me. I admire her
for taking continued trips and living in Sicily, going there alone. I have always wanted to see where my grandparents were born. The Mattanza was a unique fishing technique. It was full of rituals. Maggio enables the reader to view it through words. I even bought the DVD, Stromboli, with Ingrid Bergman because there is a short clip of an actual Mattanza within the movie. I would like to visit with Maggio someday and ask her questions of her time in Sicily. This book would appeal to both men and women. Sadly the tuna fishing rituals have pretty much died out. It is valuable to read a first hand account of this ancient fishing technique.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The ability to write well goes a long way, August 19, 2001

By 

"michaeleve" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mattanza: The Ancient Sicilian Ritual of Bluefin Tuna Fishing (Paperback)

This book is very well written; it's almost poetic with the lyrical descriptions and vivid images that Theresa Maggio creates with her words. The author also eloquently captures for her readers the conflicting emotions she experienced as a modern American woman viewing unfamiliar cultural practices and dealing with an ancient Sicilian way of life. This against the backdrop of loving the people (and one man in particular) and exploring her heritage as a grandchild of Sicilians. She writes with a sadness and shares a sense of loss with the people as old traditions fade away; the ancient way of fishing for instance - MATTANZA - the bluefin tuna fishing ritual that is dying out as modern fishing methods intrude.

In the best traditions of good travelogues the book paints a sensitive and romantic portrait of traditional cultures; we are invited to feel a poignancy about the inevitable losses that changes through modernization brings. The author in describing her man says "he was a good man in a dying trade, a fisherman to the core of his soul. His boat, his nets, and the sea were his life."

Writing style and attention to culture - the hallmarks of a good travelogue being present - what then is the problem with the book? The truth is that the cultural practice itself is not one that we develop much sympathy for. MATTANZA, although certainly not a glorification of death, and steeped as it is in religious symbolism, nevertheless is shown up as a bloody ritual, and more unfortunately for the book, a rather senseless one.

Maggio describes the scene around the trap. "The net was drawn taught, and they skittered in front of us, half out of the water...The fish were as big as men...I remember the din, the thunder of falling water, and their frantic thrashing. They darted to the corners of the net, but there was no way out...when the thrashing calmed they were battered, bleeding and floating on their sides, but they were still alive...this killing went on for an hour, the blue square turned red. When the last fish was taken the currents cleared the square of the blood and milky water that clouded it." Not exactly a practice that has much to recommend it. Even if you wished to take a principled stand and say 'I can't pass judgement on other peoples cultural practices,' the book sets itself up for just this sort of criticism where, after the Mattanza, Maggio says "the tourists...were towed back to port." Now we see the reality. This ancient traditional cultural practice, steeped in religious symbolism, is not so precious afterall. It has allowed itself to be bastardized into a blood-sport tourist attraction in order to make a few dollars. This admission, and the failure of Maggio to contrast the traditional practices with even more exploitative, modern commercial fishing activities, leaves the spotlight firmly on MATTANZA; and unfortunately for the book wheras the writing style shines, the cultural practice it describes does not.