A haven for diving, snorkeling, sport fishing, and birdwatching, San Pietro is the second-largest island, after Sant’Antioco, in the Sulcis archipelago, covering over 50 square kilometers of territory. Inhabited since prehistoric times and called the ‘Island of Sparrows’ by the Phoenicians, San Pietro is reachable in a 40-minute ferry ride from Calasetta or Portovesme. The rugged coastlines rise up to 150 meters, with cliffs alternating between protrusions and coves sheltered from the wind, kissed by crystal-clear waters.
The inland area is a kaleidoscope of colors thanks to the Mediterranean vegetation, with scents of wild rosemary, juniper, strawberry trees, dwarf palms, and Aleppo pine. Carloforte, the only inhabited center, boasts a unique culture influenced by Ligurian and Sardinian traditions; the local dialect is Tabarchino, a variant of Genoese. The people of Carloforte are descendants of coral fishermen from Pegli, exiles from the island of Tabarka, to whom Carlo Emanuele III of Savoy donated the island in 1738. Tuna fishing has made the island famous worldwide, with the seventeenth-century tuna fishery at La Punta bearing witness to the tradition of the “mattanza” (tuna harvest). Every year, between late May and early June, this tradition is celebrated with the international gastronomic event, Girotonno.