Gargano trabucchi: fishing without putting to sea

A wooden catapult over the sea

The Gargano National Park's page on the San Francesco trabucco in Vieste describes the structure in detail. It is built of Aleppo pine, with poles driven into the rock. Its heart is the tavolata, a platform carrying the casotto, the hut where the fisherman keeps watch from early morning. From the hut four long antennas extend, from which ropes run down to the corners of the net, the trabocchetto, laid on the seabed where currents converge. In the centre is a winch: turned quickly, it winds the ropes and the net rises in moments with the catch. The name, the page explains, recalls the mechanism of a catapult. The Park calls the trabucco the oldest working tool still used by fishermen on the coasts of Peschici, Vieste and Pugnochiuso.

Sources: Parco nazionale del Gargano — Trabucco di San Francesco

Origins: between hypotheses and records

On the age of the trabucchi the official sources are cautious. The Gargano National Park page notes that some local historians trace their use back as far as the Phoenicians, but reports this as an opinion, not an established fact. More concrete is the age of the structures you see today: the San Francesco trabucco in Vieste is considered among the oldest of its kind, at more than a century old.

The Park dwells instead on the value the trabucchi hold for coastal communities. In its announcements on the Peschici works it describes them as a strongly defining part of the fishing culture, to be rescued from neglect and decay, and notes that the restoration of the historic trabucchi of Peschici, Vieste and Rodi Garganico falls under a memorandum of understanding with the Puglia Region.

Memory also passes through people. According to the Park, guided tours organised with local associations of trabucchisti and trabuccolanti, who tell the story of these simple yet complex machines, have drawn many visitors; in Peschici, the joint statement with the Municipality explains, the seven trabucchi are privately owned, unlike the municipally owned ones in Vieste.

Sources: Parco nazionale del Gargano — Trabucco di San Francesco · Parco nazionale del Gargano — Trabucchi storici, comunicato congiunto con il Comune di Peschici (2023) · Parco nazionale del Gargano — Trabucchi storici di Peschici: messa in sicurezza e ripristino (2023)

Fourteen trabucchi from Peschici to Vieste

The Gargano National Park lists fourteen trabucchi on its map. In Peschici: Monte Pucci, Calalunga, about four kilometres east of the town, San Nicola, Punta Usmai, Manaccora and Forcichella. In Vieste: Tufara or Puzzacchie, on the Porticello headland, San Lorenzo along the coast road from Peschici, Isola la Chianca by Scialmarino beach, Molinella, San Francesco, Punta Lunga between the Braico and Punta Lunga beaches, Punta la Testa, the easternmost on the Gargano, and the Porto trabucco. The individual pages add context: the San Lorenzo trabucco, still working but no longer in use, stands on a headland with a rock church datable to the 10th to 12th centuries and a 17th-century former Capuchin convent; the Manaccora trabucco faces Peschici, on a promontory with Bronze Age remains.

Sources: Parco nazionale del Gargano — Trabucchi · Parco nazionale del Gargano — Trabucco S. Lorenzo · Parco nazionale del Gargano — Trabucco di Manaccora

A regional law and a restoration plan

A Park public notice from August 2025 sets out the legal framework. Regional Law no. 2 of 27 January 2015 lays down rules for knowing, promoting and restoring trabucchi, recognised as heritage of great identity and landscape value; trabucchi are also among the buildings protected under the Cultural Heritage Code. By a resolution of 21 December 2016 the Region and the Park signed a protocol to restore the historic trabucchi of Peschici, Vieste and Rodi Garganico, with total funding of 870 thousand euros. In Rodi and Vieste, where the trabucchi are under public concession, work has already been completed. In Peschici, where the seven trabucchi concerned are privately owned, the town and the trabucco operators' association signed an agreement on public access and safety; in 2023 the Park commissioned the design, and in 2025 it launched the procedure for the works.

Sources: Parco nazionale del Gargano — Avviso per i lavori sui trabucchi di Peschici (2025, PDF) · Parco nazionale del Gargano — Trabucchi storici, comunicato congiunto con il Comune di Peschici (2023) · Parco nazionale del Gargano — Trabucchi storici di Peschici: messa in sicurezza e ripristino (2023)

From net to table: what you can do today

The Park's pages describe different uses. The San Francesco trabucco, beside the Vieste convent, is managed by WWF: in summer it is often operated to show visitors how it works, on some occasions you can taste freshly caught fish, and lighting allows evening visits. The Manaccora trabucco in Peschici is listed among those still active and in summer works as a restaurant serving freshly caught fish. Others, such as San Lorenzo, are in good condition but no longer used for fishing. In the 2023 announcement the Park President explains the aim of promoting them as a system, within slow-travel routes along the coast, and notes that the trabucchi have been put forward for UNESCO recognition.

Sources: Parco nazionale del Gargano — Trabucco di San Francesco · Parco nazionale del Gargano — Trabucco di Manaccora · Parco nazionale del Gargano — Trabucco S. Lorenzo · Parco nazionale del Gargano — Trabucchi storici di Peschici: messa in sicurezza e ripristino (2023)

The coast: Vieste, Peschici, Rodi

Italia.it's Gargano guide places the trabucchi, old fishing installations with long wooden arms holding a net, alongside the 16th-century coastal towers built against pirates and corsairs. Vieste, at the eastern tip of the spur, is the main resort: two long pale-sand beaches, a village of stairs, alleys and arches on the headland, the Apulian-Romanesque cathedral and the castle, and the Pizzomunno monolith, about twenty-five metres high; it was a bishop's see from 918 to 1817. Peschici perches on a cliff above the sea, within its old walls, with domed houses. Rodi Garganico, Puglia's citrus capital, looks out towards the Tremiti Islands. Inland, the Foresta Umbra is the Park's green heart.

Sources: Italia.it — Gargano

Seafood: what to ask for

On the official sources we consulted we found no dedicated records of Gargano seafood dishes, so here we only offer advice on approach. At a trabucco or in coastal restaurants, always ask what was caught that day and let the kitchen decide: passing fish taken with the net change with season and currents, and that is the very point of the trabucco. Prefer simple preparations, grilled, in acqua pazza or in soup, that do not mask the flavour; a pasta dish with the day's fish tells of the coast better than a long menu. With fish choose an Apulian white or rosé served cool. Off-season travellers will find many trabucchi idle: then the value of the visit is the landscape and the machine itself.

Visiting with respect

Many trabucchi are private property or concessions and are fragile structures exposed to wind and storms: never climb onto a platform without the operator's invitation, and keep away from working winches. The best view is often from the shore, at dawn or sunset, when the silhouette of the antennas stands out against the sea. For a fishing demonstration or a meal on a trabucco, check times, availability and sea conditions in advance and book: in summer places are few. As a souvenir, a photograph of the net rising is worth more than food. If you continue north along the Adriatic, the trabocchi that give their name to a stretch of the Abruzzo coast let you continue the journey on the same theme.