Things to do in Carloforte

Carloforte is the only town on the island of San Pietro, settled in 1738 by Ligurian families who'd been fishing coral off Tunisia for generations — their descendants still speak Tabarchino, a dialect of Genoese, and the pastel harbourfront looks more like Liguria than Sardinia. Tuna fishing built the town, and the Girotonno festival each June still celebrates it, even though the old mattanza has largely stopped. Capo Sandalo's lighthouse marks the island's wild western tip. Below are the top-rated tours and boat trips, reached by ferry from Calasetta or Portovesme.