Colimena

Colimena — La Fabbrica del Tonno — was founded in 2008 in Avetrana, in the province of Taranto, by Agostino Lomartire and his brothers-in-law Pompeo and Franco Scarciglia. The name recalls Torre Colimena, the sixteenth-century fortification overlooking the Ionian Sea in the municipality of Manduria, built under Charles V and once the beating heart of one of the most active tuna fisheries in the southern Mediterranean. Colimena is the only genuinely Puglian tuna cannery in the region.

The supply chain is entirely vertical: company-owned boats, fishing in Ionian waters, and processing at the Avetrana plant within 24 hours of the catch. The tuna — exclusively fish under 15 kg, richer in Omega-3s and lower in heavy metals — is poached in an aromatic broth of lemon, thyme, bay leaf, and white vinegar, then hand-jarred and left to mature for 90 to 120 days in olive oil before release. Beyond albacore tuna, the range includes Atlantic bonito, little tunny, dolphinfish, and Ionian mackerel.