Port of Bonagia

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Bonagia's history reflects its long relationship with Erice and the sea. Ancient maritime connections, medieval routes, royal trading privileges and centuries of tuna fishing shaped the development of the settlement. The following sections examine the documentary and archaeological evidence, including areas where the historical interpretation remains uncertain.

Bonagia in antiquity

The coast around Bonagia may have served as a maritime outlet for ancient Erice. Archaeologist Chiara Blasetti Fantauzzi identifies the area of the present-day port as a probable point of access to the sea for the ancient settlement, which occupied the northern part of the mountain overlooking Bonagia and the Elymian territories inland.

Bonagia may also have served as a landing and supply point during the First Punic War (264–241 BCE), when Roman and Carthaginian forces fought for control of western Sicily.

The ancient historian Polybius described how Carthaginian forces under Hamilcar Barca occupied part of Mount Eryx and maintained access to the sea. Although Polybius did not identify the landing place, modern historians have proposed Bonagia as its location.

In a 2011 study of the Battle of the Aegates Islands, historian Tommaso Gnoli argued that the Carthaginian position was situated around Case Cosenza and San Matteo, above Bonagia. He identified the nearby coast as a probable landing and supply point for the forces occupying the mountain.

These interpretations suggest that Bonagia may have played a role in the maritime connections of ancient Erice, including military movements during the third century BCE. However, they do not establish the existence of a permanent harbour or commercial port at that time.

Evidence of Roman-period settlement has been recorded around Sant'Andrea di Bonagia. Two Greek inscriptions discovered near the church have been associated with the Roman senatorial family of the Nicomachi, one surviving in Erice and the other known from historical transcriptions. Archaeological surveys undertaken by the Progetto Kalat between 1995 and 1997 identified an extensive coastal settlement, including an inland area of more than eight hectares and an associated harbour, with material dating from at least the fifth century BCE to the fifth century CE. Architect and researcher Giovanni Vultaggio has suggested that the Roman phase of this settlement may correspond to the villa of Nicomachus Julianus, although the identification remains unconfirmed.

Historic routes to Erice

Bonagia was connected with Erice by routes ascending the northern and eastern slopes of the mountain. Remains of these historic approaches survive in the landscape, alongside medieval religious buildings and former rural settlements.

A 2026 architectural study by Gianmarco Girgenti, Fabrizio Avella and Davide Gianluca Abbate identifies a former route passing near the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which connected Erice with Bonagia and its port. The study also examines the nearby complexes of Sant'Ippolito and Santa Maria Maddalena, associated with other historic approaches to the mountain town.

Salvatore Corso also reconstructs a wider network of historic routes connecting Erice, Bonagia, Custonaci and Monte Cofano. His study draws on historical documents, surviving paths and reported archaeological remains, suggesting that the coastal settlements were connected with routes across the surrounding countryside.

Although these routes reflect a long history of movement between the coast and Erice, the surviving remains and medieval buildings do not, by themselves, establish the precise antiquity of every road.

Bonagia in the Middle Ages

The name Bonagia appears in a royal land grant dated 1167, preserved through later documentary copies. The grant refers to the Church of All Saints (ecclesia Omnium Sanctorum) and lands in the locality of Bonagia, near the springs of Giarzini and Linciasella.

Historian Salvatore Corso identifies this as the earliest known documentary reference to the place name.

Bonagia's tuna fishery was also established by the thirteenth century. Historian Vincenzo Perugini records a reference from 1266 concerning the right of the bishops of Mazara to receive a tithe on tuna catches. Notarial records from 1297–1300 include the place name contrata Tonnarie Bonachie, providing further evidence of the fishery's medieval existence.

A grain port for Erice

In the late fifteenth century, Bonagia became involved in a commercial dispute between Erice, then known as Monte San Giuliano, and the neighbouring city of Trapani.

On 4 December 1478, King John of Aragon granted Monte San Giuliano the right to establish a porto e caricatore at Bonagia, where grain could be stored and loaded for export. Trapani opposed the privilege, delaying its implementation. The right was subsequently confirmed by Ferdinand the Catholic on 10 December 1479, when an official was also appointed to oversee the port's commercial activities.

However, the proposed grain port appears not to have developed as intended. Historian Vincenzo Perugini notes that Bonagia's shallow waters were unsuitable for larger vessels, while agricultural produce from the Erice countryside continued to be transported overland to the established market at Trapani.

During the early sixteenth century, a further privilege granted to Gerolamo Incombao authorised the use of warehouses at Bonagia as a caricatore, or grain-loading establishment. Perugini suggests that this privilege, too, may have remained unimplemented.

The limitations of Bonagia's harbour were noted by later writers. Tommaso Fazello described it in 1558 as suitable for small boats, while Giovanni Andrea Massa recorded in 1709 that its natural shelter was insufficient during winds from the north and northeast.

The old and new tonnare

Although Bonagia's tuna fishery had medieval origins, the surviving records provide a clearer picture of its buildings from the early sixteenth century.

The original establishment, later known as the Tonnara Vecchia, stood west of the present-day harbour, near the small church of the Crocifissello. By the early 1500s, it comprised a tower, warehouses, a courtyard and other buildings used for fishing and processing tuna. The precise date of its construction is unknown.

During the sixteenth century, a new complex was established at Punta di Sant'Angelo, on the eastern side of the bay. On 3 September 1556, the viceroyal authorities authorised Laura Caralta, who held the fishing rights, to construct a defensive tower and buildings for the operation and protection of the tonnara.

The new establishment was organised around a fortified courtyard, with a square tower designed to protect the workers and equipment against attacks from the sea. Its tower was depicted by the military engineer Tiburzio Spannocchi during his survey of the Sicilian coast in 1577–1578.

The older complex continued to be used, particularly for processing and salting tuna, even after the fishing operation had moved to Punta di Sant'Angelo.

The corsair attack of 1624

During the night of 10–11 June 1624, Bonagia's tonnara was attacked by corsairs from Algiers and Bizerte. Contemporary accounts describe an assault from both land and sea, involving artillery fire against the defensive tower.

The attackers eventually captured the complex, killing or taking captive many of those present and setting fire to the tower and other buildings. The raid took place during an outbreak of plague affecting western Sicily.

Historian Vincenzo Perugini has reconstructed the attack using contemporary notarial records, including an account by Giuseppe Massone. His research shows that, despite the destruction of the tower, parts of the establishment survived, including rooms, warehouses and the courtyard.

Perugini dates the reconstruction of the tower, undertaken at the expense of the royal authorities, to 1625. The Archivio di Stato di Trapani gives 1626.

The Stella family and the tonnara

In 1638, the Tonnara di Bonagia passed from royal ownership into private hands, following a decision by the Spanish Crown to sell property and privileges to raise money for its military expenses.

The fishery was acquired by the Stella family of Trapani. Caterina Pirao, widow of Pietro Stella, arranged the purchase on behalf of her twelve-year-old son Antonino. The transaction included the fishing rights and associated privileges, and established Antonino as the first Baron of Bonagia.

The Stella family had accumulated considerable wealth through trade, agricultural produce and other commercial activities. Their acquisition of Bonagia marked a transition from mercantile wealth to hereditary nobility. Over subsequent generations, the family established itself among Sicily's aristocracy, eventually acquiring the title of Dukes of Casteldimirto.

The family's association with the tonnara also left a mark on its buildings. In 1749, a chapel was constructed within the complex, housing a wooden crucifix that became an object of local devotion.

Bonagia thus developed not only as a centre of tuna fishing but also as a valuable estate whose ownership, revenues and privileges were closely connected with the economic and social ambitions of prominent Sicilian families.

Tuna fishing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Bonagia continued to form part of the network of tuna-fishing establishments along the western Sicilian coast, where seasonal catches supported maritime employment, fish processing and trade.

In Ricordi trapanesi (1880), Giuseppe Polizzi included Bonagia among the established tuna-fishing locations of the Trapani coast, alongside Favignana, Formica and San Giuliano. His account also describes the elaborate system of nets, chambers and fishing crews involved in the traditional mattanza.

Bonagia's tuna fishery continued into the twentieth century, although its ownership and organisation changed considerably. In 1923, the establishment was sold to Fenicia S.p.A., a Trapani-based fishing company, marking a further stage in its development as a commercial enterprise.

The tonnara remained an important source of employment for the local community. Its activities extended beyond catching tuna to maintaining boats and nets, processing the fish and preparing it for preservation and sale. The buildings around the central courtyard accommodated workshops, storage areas and facilities for the fishing crews.

The fishing industry also supported traditional crafts within the local community. Gioacchino Lipari records the work of Rosa Barraco (born 1933), who made nasse, fishing traps woven from rushes, for her brothers, who worked as fishermen in Bonagia. These traps required frequent replacement because of their deterioration in seawater. Her work was later commemorated in a mural by Mirella Amantia at the Tonnara di Bonagia, depicting Rosa and her brothers repairing fishing equipment.

During the 1970s, the industry underwent further consolidation. Entrepreneur Nino Castiglione acquired fishing rights and equipment associated with Bonagia and neighbouring tonnare. In 1979, the traditional installations were combined into a larger fishing operation off the coast near San Giuliano, bringing an end to the separate fishing establishment at Bonagia.

Tuna fishing continued through the combined operation after the relocation, but the historic buildings at Bonagia gradually lost their original industrial purpose.

Restoration and a new role

During the late twentieth century, the former Tonnara di Bonagia was converted for tourist accommodation. A major restoration in 1996 adapted the historic complex into a hotel and residential accommodation, while retaining elements of its traditional architecture.

The buildings preserve the arrangement of a fortified baglio, with a large central courtyard surrounded by former working and residential spaces. The defensive tower, originally constructed in the sixteenth century and rebuilt following the corsair attack of 1624, remains one of the complex's most prominent features.

The tower also houses a museum dedicated to the history of tuna fishing and the mattanza, with fishing equipment, historic objects and displays explaining the traditional methods used along the Sicilian coast.

Today, the former tonnara operates as a hotel, while Bonagia's small harbour accommodates recreational boating and local maritime activity. The conversion of the complex reflects a wider transformation of the western Sicilian coast, where buildings once central to the fishing economy have acquired new roles in tourism and heritage.