The complex of the Tonnara dell’Arenella has very ancient origins, as is the fishing system to which it referred. It was purchased in 1830 by Vincenzo Florio, who commissioned his friend and collaborator Architect Carlo Giachery to transform it. Thus was born the building called “I Quattro Pizzi”, a neo-Gothic quadrangular building, so called for the four spiers that overlook it.
The unusual design recalls an English Gothic, softened by a romantic Mediterranean scenography. A part of the complex was used as a weekend home and many illustrious personalities were hosted there, not least the Tsarina of Russia, during her stay in Palermo.
The latter fell in love with it so much that she had the “Quattro Pizzi” faithfully reproduced in Snamenka, near St. Petersburg, on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, in the park of her summer residence in Peterhof which, in memory of Palermo, she called “Renella” . The building still exists. After the golden period, Vincenzo Florio retired to the Tonnara dell’Arenella with his family, electing it as his home. The Tonnara remained in operation until the early twentieth century: after the tuna route changed, the fishing activity was definitively closed.