The net of the Punta Santa Croce trabucco hanging over the sea at sunset

Our Vieste guides

The trabucchi
of Gargano

Between Vieste and Peschici, on every point of rock, timber reaches out over the sea like an outstretched arm. These are the trabucchi: ancient fishing machines that are still very much alive. We'll tell you how they breathe, where to find them and when the light makes them magical.

A guide by the Villa Ulimare family

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The net goes down
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Two nets, waiting
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All eyes on the sea
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The net comes up
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From net to basket

The net of the Molinella trabucco raised above the waves, with fishermen on the platform — Greetings from Gargano

Experience a trabucco for real

In summer
Live fishing
Watch the net go down and come back up, with La Rinascita dei Trabucchi Storici.
Book Live fishing (opens in a new tab)
Wednesday and Friday, 6:45 pm
Yoga on the trabucco
At Punta Santa Croce, at sunset: yoga, meditation and crystal bowls, open to everyone.
Book Yoga on the trabucco (opens in a new tab)

What they are

Wooden giants on the sea

You spot them all of a sudden, from the coast road or from the shore: poles, ropes and long arms hanging over the water, like wooden cobwebs stretched out towards the open sea. The trabucco was born to fish without putting out to sea: the rock becomes a boat, and waiting becomes a trade.

The name may come from the “trabocchetto”, a net that closes like a trap. Its origins are lost in time, and some trace them back to the Phoenicians; reliable records date from the 18th century.

Between the mid-19th and the mid-20th century, there were thirty-six of them between Vieste and Peschici. They put bread on the table for whole families, until the 1970s, when modern fishing left them behind. Today a law of the Apulia Region protects them, and patient hands are bringing them back to life.

A warm hug from Vieste,
the Villa Ulimare family

The Molinella trabucco, on its point of rock

The trabucco's ID card

What it is: A wooden fishing machine, anchored to the rock
Where: On the headlands of the coast, from Vieste to Peschici
The timber: Aleppo pine poles, fir planks and arms
When: Fishing by day, the finest light at sunset
With children: Yes: the net rising full of fish enchants them

How it works

Timber, rope and patience

A platform of planks rests on the rock, parallel to the shore. From there the long arms reach out, up to about forty metres over the sea, holding a great net. At the top, the lookout scans the water: when a shoal of grey mullet swims into the net, the winches turn and the sea hands over its gift.

Raise the netLower the net

The platformPlanks and poles driven into the rock, parallel to the shore.
The armsLong wooden arms that carry the net away from the shore.
The netRectangular, with a mesh that tightens towards the centre.
The winchesHere they call them “ciucci”: turned by hand, they lift the net.

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The net goes down
The arms lower the net into the water, where the shoals pass.
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The wait
On the platform, everyone watches the sea in silence.
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The net comes up
The winches turn and the fish rise to the surface, all at once.
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The catch
The fish go into the basket, right before the children's eyes.

Where to see them

The trabucco coast

Seven trabucchi from Vieste to Peschici: two a short walk from the old town, the others along the coast road that runs above the sea. On three of them, you can also sit down to dinner.

To see

Watch them from the shore; on some, you can join the fishing live.

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Punta Santa Croce
Vieste · seafront, facing the lighthouse
On the Cristoforo Colombo seafront, a few steps from the lighthouse islet. It is one of the trabucchi brought back to life by the association La Rinascita dei Trabucchi Storici, which runs its experiences here, by booking.
Book the experience (opens in a new tab)
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Punta San Francesco
Vieste · old town
On the tip of the old town, at the foot of the church of San Francesco: the most photographed trabucco in Vieste. You can walk here from the centre, down the steps beside the church.
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Molinella
Vieste · road to Peschici
On a tongue of rock that closes Molinella bay, about three kilometres from the centre, between the scrubland and the sea. It is one of the trabucchi where people still fish.
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La Chianca
Vieste · road to Peschici
Built on a tiny islet off La Chianca beach, about eight kilometres from Vieste. From the shore it seems to float on the water, and it still works perfectly.

Dining on a trabucco

Family restaurants above the sea: best to book.

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Il Trabucco da Elia
Peschici · Punta di Manaccora
On the Manaccora headland, the Ranieri family's trabucco: a restaurant since 1980, with aperitifs on the trabucco every day until 8 pm and the sunset right in front of you.
Book on their website (opens in a new tab)
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Al Trabucco da Mimì
Peschici · Punta San Nicola
The best known in Gargano. The Ottaviano family has been cooking here since 1975, on a trabucco almost a hundred years old: dinner or a sunset aperitif, to enjoy at least once.
Book on their website (opens in a new tab)
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Trabucco di Monte Pucci
Peschici · below the tower
The trabucco of the Fasanella family, trabucco fishermen for six generations: perched high above the sea, with Peschici facing you. Fish caught that morning, for lunch and dinner.
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A glass of white wine on the rail of a trabucco, with the sea at sunset

The loveliest hour

At sunset, the light of the trabucchi

When the sun slips behind the headland, the sky glows orange and violet and the trabucchi turn into black silhouettes, like ink drawings on the sea. Once, at night, a gas lamp was lowered into the net: its light drew the fish in.

Our tipGet to Punta San Francesco an hour before sunset, then stroll down to Marina Piccola: the lighthouse comes on right in front of you.

Did you know?