Salvatore Spataro: the last rais was me

He was one of the last to say goodbye while he was lying on his deathbed. There was the whole island, to say goodbye to Gioacchino Cataldo, the last of the Favignana rais. Undisputed and acclaimed tonnara king.

Salvatore Spataro was there, in front of him, like in front of a mirror.
They have been tied for the whole life by the same passion for tuna fishing, often sweating and swallowing salt on the same boats. Divided by opposite characters, talkative and worldly Gioacchino, proud of Polifemo's body and juggler of the bewitching smile, shy and rough Salvatore, shy, allergic to flaps, bitter like the land of the butterfly island.

"I am unpleasant, I know. It's my nature "

Pure sailor character, Salvatore, "I'm unpleasant, I know. It is my nature." For this reason, he says, everyone accepted the coronation of Gioacchino to chin and toast the last rais, "even if the reality is another". For years, however, Salvatore has stopped wanting to grab a title that destiny has taken from him, without appeal. Courted by fishermen for his expertise with nets, heir to the millennial rite told by Homer and practiced by Romans, Arabs and Spaniards, but also for his iron fist "with those who made the whims", was ignored by the Favignanese chronicles, where folklore has softened and deflected reality.

Heir to the millenary ritual told by Homer and practiced by Romans, Arabs and Spaniards

He built the yarn for coconuts nets, as a child, "and after elementary school I already understood everything". The passion for tuna remained there, hidden in the folds of his silences, until when he was 36, they went to look for him, in the bar he ran in Lido Burrone, and asked him to go to sea.
Nino Castiglione, the Trapani entrepreneur who never stopped dreaming of reopening the trap, had heard of his hands, his eyes made for the sea.
"I remember when on the first day the head of the guards, whose name was Angelo Turricciano, asked me:" Rais, what are we going to do? "I was moved, it was a manifestation of confidence that I did not expect". He spent years in Bonagia, near Trapani, by the Castiglione, always looking with nostalgia at the edges of Favignana, where Joachim reigned. He returned to help him prepare the chamber of death for tuna, in 2004 in which the nets were missing. "We have been like brothers for years, we shared everything, effort, bread, fish, we slept at sea. But then we walked away because he became jealous. I was better, he more famous ".

"I was more clever, he's most famous"

A life of low feathers, far from the spotlight. "It was not lack of courage - he says today, at the age of 70, with days filled with long walks, evening dances and card games with friends - it is my nature. I look to the point, to the truth. And the truth is that the last rais was me, back in the sea when Gioacchino had already retired ". Now that Gioacchino is no longer there, it can be said, without the modesty of stealing something from him.