Carloforte and San Pietro Island
Overview of Carloforte
Carloforte (U Pàize in Tabarchino) is the sole urban center on San Pietro Island in the Sulcis
Archipelago. Recognized as one of the Borghi più belli d’Italia, the town functions as an enclave of
Ligurian language (Tabarchino), cuisine, and architecture within Sardinia.
Origins & Historical Background:
In 1542, Ligurian coral fishers from Pegli settled on the island
of Tabarka off the coast of Tunisia. Facing enslavement and declining coral yields in 1738, King
Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy granted them permission to colonize the uninhabited Accipitrum
Insula (San Pietro Island). The new town was named Carloforte (“Charles’s Fort”) in his honor.
Following an 1798 Barbary corsair raid that enslaved over 900 residents for five years, the town
erected protective perimeter walls. During the late 19th century, Carloforte prospered through
maritime shipping (galanzieri) of ores extracted from mainland Sulcis-Iglesiente mines.
Key Sites & Cultural Landmarks
• Piazza Carlo Emanuele III & Monument: Features a 1786 marble statue group by Bernardo
Mantero depicting King Charles Emmanuel III flanked by two kneeling slaves, erected in
gratitude for the colony’s founding and freedom.
• Defensive Walls & Forts: Remnants of the 18th- and early 19th-century defensive system,
including Forte Santa Cristina, Forte Santa Teresa, and Porta del Leone.
• Fortino Carlo Emanuele III (Casa del Duca): An 1738 stone guardhouse and former prison
that now houses the Civic Museum, with dedicated halls for bluefin tuna fishing (tonnara),
local shipping history, and malacology.
• Sanctuary of the Madonna dello Schiavo: A chapel housing a dark linden-wood statue
(originally a ship’s figurehead) discovered on a Tunisian beach in 1800 by an enslaved
colonist, serving as a symbol of faith and liberation.
• Church of San Carlo Borromeo: The Neoclassical/Baroque parish church completed in
1775, preserving a stone from the original church altar brought directly from Tabarka.
• Church of the Novelli Innocenti: A 13th-century chapel rebuilt in 1796 in Late-Baroque
Piemontese style. Traditionally built by Pope Gregory IX to commemorate shipwrecked
children from the 1212 Children’s Crusade, it contains the tombs of local naval hero Vittorio
Porcile.
• Cavallera Cinema-Theater (U Palassiu): Built in 1922 as a Art Nouveau headquarters for
maritime labor unions before being converted into a theater and festival venue.
• San Vittorio Tower & Astronomical Observatory: Built in 1768 as a defensive outpost,
converted in 1898 into an international astronomical observatory for studying Earth’s axial
precession.