Sicily
Gioacchino Cataldo on full page ad in NYT
March 24, 2022
Before he was the last rais of the Favignana tonnara, Gioacchino Cataldo was a boat captain and that was when I took this picture of him. It is superimposed on a photo I took of Bue Marino, the sea cove near the house I rented at the edge of the island. It is also the cover of the first edition of the book, Mattanza.
Rais gioacchino cataldo died last night
July 21, 2018
He died at home on his island, Favignana, after a three-month illness. He was the last rais of the Favignana tonnara. His photo was on the cover of my first book, Mattanza. There was no one like him, a soft-hearted giant, a demi-god of the sea.
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Original Mattanza on e bay, the second of fifteen copies
July 23, 2017
I am selling fifteen copies of the original Mattanza book. The second copy is on sale now at ebay. Click on the link at right to go to it.
remembering the tonnara of favignana
October 6, 2016
I am on the island of Favignana and I see many changes. I am nostalgic for the island in the days of the tonnara. Click on the caption to see a slide show of those days.
A bloodless mattanza for tourists
February 29, 2016
I read in La Repubblica that the tonnara is coming back to Favignana, but just to draw tourists, and the men will not lift the tuna in teams of eight with lances of varying lengths as they used to. To know what a tonnara used to be like, please read my first book, Mattanza. Read More
Ingrid Bergman at a Stromboli Mattanza
December 27, 2014
Mattanza starts at 1:04. Bergman was "boulverse.`" Blown away. She made this film with Roberto Rosselini, who created it for her. Before this, Anna Magnani had been his love, his muse, his actress.