Beautiful Puglia quotes “…strange fishing machines, all composed of planks and beams similar to giant spiders.” a line from Gabriele d’Annunzio, an Italian poet to describe the trubucco. They are old wooden fishing structures, built on the coastline in Abruzzo and Puglia, especially in Gargano National Park, between Peschici and Vieste. They date back to at least the early 1800’s when they were used because they were safer than being out on boats with hazards including weather and piracy. Most are no longer in use, but many remain as historical monuments.”

After, spending a week in Puglia, most of it on the coastline, I saw many trabucchi. I spent a day swimming in Cala del Turco and picnicking on the beach, with a trabucco just in the distance. I had some introspective moments, thinking of my grandfather, wondering if that was a trabucco he had used, as it was not far from his home. I spoke to my great uncle, Salvatore when I returned home, and we talked about all of this, his father, his memories of him and of his siblings, my grandmother, his sister. It is a reminder that life moves on whether we want it to or not, and it’s important to record these moments for future generations. This work is for my great grandfather, un pescatore pugliese, a fisherman from Puglia, and for all the people who dare to make a leap of faith under the most difficult of circumstances.