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Now let the sea day I'll be doing. Hello, my name is Claudia. I was born and raised in Sardinia and I still call it home. I am the mastermind behind the Strictly Sardinia Travel blog and now the Strictly Sardinia Podcast where each week I'll bring you the best Sardinia has to offer and share my most useful tips that will help you plan a memorable trip to my wonderful island. In the last episode I talked to you about how to use public transport in Sardinia. This week let's go back to travel destinations on the island and I will share with you my tips on visiting the lovely small town Carlo Forte and San Pietro island where it is located. Let me stress that as always, you will find a more detailed version of today's episode on my blog. Subscribe strictlyceridinia.com and the link to my blog post is in today's episode description, so don't forget that to read that for more information. Also, let me remind you that if you ever need more tips and help to plan your trip to Sardinia, you can book a one hour consultation with me. The link for that is in the episode description. Now today's topic the lovely Carlo Forte and Isola di San Pietro Carlo Forte is located in the San Pietro island in the Sulci's Archipelago in southern Sardinia and it's one of the most beautiful, unique places that you can visit on the island. It's a popular place to visit among Sardinians and it's slowly becoming more popular to visit among Italian and foreign tourists, but not many people from outside of Europe ever make it there. It's a gorgeous place that has retained all its character and that you should absolutely visit if you want a trip to a unique destination. I have been there several times, including once in September, and I'm happy to share everything you need to know to plan the perfect trip to this lovely place. Carlo Forte and San Pietro have a very interesting history. Archaeological remains here prove that the island was inhabited during Phoenician times, so in the 8th century before Christ. There's also remains of a Carthaginian settlement with a temple and a necropolis. Carlo Forte, however, as a town, was founded in 1738 by 30 families that were coming from Tabarca. This is an island off the coast of Tunisia where the family from Genoa in Liguria, so in Italy, had moved since the 16th century and prospered throughout the Ottoman rule. However, following a drop in the production of coral, which is what these fishermen were doing here, in 1737, Tabarqui inhabitants asked to move and settle elsewhere And King Charles Emmanuel Third granted them the possibility of colonizing various uninhabited areas of Sardinia, such as the area of San Pietro Island. The name Carlo Forte is obviously a reference to the King Charles the Strong, of Piedmontese origins. Carlo Forte has preserved its uniqueness throughout the centuries and it even has kept its language and culture. The population, which is not even 6,000 people, is still speaking the original language that they spoke in Tabarka, that is a dialect similar to Genoese. So it's quite unique because it's quite, quite different from the other language of Sardinia that we speak here. There are so many things that you can do in San Pietro island, obviously, if you're visiting here in the summer, I want to start with the beaches. Carlo Forte, as a small island, is facing various coasts. So you will have to pick the best beach based on the wind of the day. When you get to Carlo Forte, usually all hotels will give you a map of the island with the various beaches. And usually if you look at the sign on the map that points to the beach, it will tell you if it is a good beach to visit, depending on where the wind is blowing. So make sure that you grab one at your hotel. Now, speaking of Carlo Forte beaches, one that I really love, Il junco. It's about 1.8 miles from Carlo Forte. It's the longest beach on the island. It's on the other side of the salt pans. I'll tell you a bit more about that. And it takes name from the main, from the many rush junco in Italian plants that you will find there. You have shallow waters protected from the currents, fine white sand mixed with small pebbles. It's a safe beach to visit if you're going with children. There is a beach club where you can rent umbrellas and other beach equipment. Not far from it, there's Girin, which is about 2.3 miles from Carlo Forte. Girin G I R It's another gorgeous small beach. There's a large and free parking lot where you can where you can park your car. And the beach is a very short distance from the parking lot. Another beach that I always go to is Guidi. White sand beach with tough rocks, perfectly transparent waters, shallow waters with a sandy seabed that gives way to Posidonia, which is a sign of how pristine seen the water is. This beach is 3.7 miles from town. You need to park your car at the parking lot of the restaurant on the other side of the street for a small fee. And then you can walk at the beach where you will find A kiosk and a beach club where you can rent all sorts of beach equipment. Another beach that I always go to in Carlo Forte when their mistral wind is blowing is La Boba, probably my favorite beach on the island. Surmounted by rocky cliffs on both sides and dunes at its back, covered by Mediterranean vegetation. You can follow a trail along the cliff that takes you to a viewpoint over Guidi Beach. So you see two beaches in one spot. Many locals will tell you that it's the best beach. As I said before, when the mistle wind blows. Thanks to the rock formations and sand dunes, it's nicely sheltered. When I last visited Santioco in San Pietro island, incidentally, there was a lot of wind and that's where my sister and I went. The water, though, was freezing, just because when the mistral wind blows, the water is always freezing. There is a beach kiosk, a beach club that has bathrooms, you know, food and drinks. And you can get some sorts of beach equipment, like sunbeds that are actually very cheap for the full day. You have to pay a small fee for the parking lot. And there is also access to disabled visitors. Another beach that is on the other side of the island and at I really like is La Caleta, literally the small bay. It's located on the southwestern coast of San Pietro, about 5.2 miles from Carlo Forte, one of the longest beaches on the island. Beautiful and sandy, with rock formations on both sides and transparent waters, It's a popular beach with families and children. There's a kiosk that serves light meals, prepare to order, and a beach club where you can rent umbrellas and sunbeds. There's a small parking lot close to the beach that you can access on a short trail that starts right there. It's also accessible to disabled visitors. Speaking of the town foreign, it's a gorgeous place to visit and I'm sure you will love it. It's one of the most colorful coastal towns in Sardinia. You'll have plenty of photo opportunities. In fact, that is my favorite thing to do whenever I visit. You can walk around and just get to see the main landmarks. And my favorite one is Sarkiot. It's located in Via Solferino. It's a small arch that was built at the end of the 18th century as the door to the garden of the Rapallo family, back then one of the wealthiest in town. And it's one of the most photographed spots in the city. Another spot that I'm sure you'll love is the city walls and lions Gate. The city walls of Carlo Forte were lifted after the last invasion by the Tunisian corsairs, who in 1798 captured and enslaved around 1,000 locals. They were built between 1806 and 1813, and back then they surrounded the entire town. Nowadays you can only spot them in the western part of town. You can still see the three main forts, Santa Cristina, Santa Teresa and Beatrice, and the Lion's Gate, whose name is due to a lion carved in the rock. I also recommend checking out Giuseppe Cavallera Cineteatro. It's located on the waterfront and it's a large building in Liberty style, also known as Casa del Proletario. It was built between 1920 and 1922. Back then, locals use it as a meeting area for the trade union, and meetings were led by Giuseppe Cavallera. When trade unions stopped meeting, the building became a cinema and a theater which hosted some of Italy's most famous singers. And today it hosts local events and celebrating celebrations. The most important church on the island is the Church of San Carlo. It was built in 1775, so it's a rather old church on the model of the parish church of Pelli, a small town near Genoa, where the first inhabitants of the island came from. It has a single nave with three chapels set on one of its sides. Close to the altar, you'll find a statue of St. Anne that arrived to the island with the first step settlers in 1738. The church also has a bell tower that was built in 1797. Now there are more churches that you can visit on the island. I won't mention them all. One of my favorite spots is the Carlo Forte salt pans. They are just outside of town and it's a nice spot where you can admire several birds species, including pink flamingos and coarse seagulls. The area was used for the production of salt since Punic times, but it was only in 1770 that extraction began on a larger scales. They went out of use in 1998. So quite, quite recently, actually, one of the absolute most popular places to see in Carlo Forte is that Tonnara Carlo Forte is home to one of the last traditional tuna fisheries in the Mediterranean. And then Tonnara is a set of nets placed in the sea when it's time to catch tuna. It's a complicated system that creates a series of connected chambers, and in the last one, the Matanza killing takes place. You can certainly taste Carlo Forte delicious tuna in one of the many local restaurants. And I will tell you which ones are my favorite. When in season but if you want to learn more about the rituals of the Matanza and what it means for the island, you should visit the Tonara. Now it can only be visited on guided tours. Another spot that you should visit is Le Colon, a short distance from La Boba beach, which I mentioned before. You will find Punta delle Colonna, a beautiful landmark with incredible panoramic views. Here you'll be able to see three two massive tritic rocks column emerging from the water. Now there's only one. The wind erosion and the water erosion caused one of the two columns to collapse. It's a natural monument of the island since 1993. You can get there by car from Carlo Forte, otherwise it's just a walk from Laboba. You follow the trail that is also accessible to disabled people. A spot that I loved visiting. The first time I went to Carlo Forte was the Piscina Naturali di Nazca. Nazca natural pools. You can get there in two ways. One is if you go on a boat tour around the island. Otherwise you can hike there. It's not a difficult hike, meaning that to get there you walk downhill. It's a bit more hard if you're walking under the sun on the way back. Because it's uphill, it's definitely worth the effort. You'll reach a final spot on the road where you can park your car. And from there follow the signs leading to the pools. The trail is not marked. It's a steep. As I said, it's a steep downhill. Walk on the way and just a steep uphill. And you will need hiking shoes or good walking shoes. Speaking of boats, a boat tour around the island is definitely one of the best things to do. Keep in mind the island can be very windy. It's one of the most exposed places in Sardinia. So my recommendation is to book a tour locally, depending on the wind, and be a bit flexible. Carlo Forte and San Pietro island are also one of the most popular destinations in Sardinia to go diving. Dives here are for quite advanced divers, so don't go here if you're just a beginner. I finally recommend admiring this sunset from the lighthouse at Capo Sandalo. It was built in 1864. It takes about 20 minutes to drive there from Carlo Forte. Once you get there, there a large parking lot from where the trails to the viewpoints start. One final thing I want to mention for Carlo Forte is the Gironno Festival. The canned tuna that you find on the island is mighty expensive compared to the cheap stuff you get on the shelf of the Source. And there's. There's a reason it costs so much. It's top quality. The Giroftono is Carlo Forte's most famous festival and it's a celebration of this high quality tuna. The festival takes place every year between. Between the very end of May and the first two weeks of June and last three days. It's a celebration of tuna with lots of delicious food, lots of music and other activities. Now, talking about practical information, how do you get to Carlo Forte and San Pietro Island? There are two different ferries that you can take. One departs from Calazetta in Santiago island and the other one departs from Porto Vesme. You can take the ferry from one spot and then departure back, go back to the other spot. Porto Vesme is rather nondescript, it's a rather industrial place, whereas Calazetta is really pretty to visit. You can take the car on the ferry and you don't really have to book in advance as there are plenty of departures throughout the day. When you are in San Pietro island, the best way to move around is by all means by car. Now, Carlo Forte town itself, you will need a car. But to explore the island there is virtually no public transportation, so you will have to have a car, moped, bikes. But keep in mind the island is very hilly and it can be quite tough to move around. How long should you stay there? Well, some people visit on day trips from Cagliari. I think it's a bit too far. It takes about two hours in total, two and a half hours in total to get there, including the ferry. And. And it deserves more time. So just plan to spend at least three days there, I would say. Finally, where to eat? In Caroforta I have a bunch of restaurants that I love, Dan Nicolo. It's one of the best restaurants in Sardinia, if you ask me. They have great food, generous portions and spot on service. It's a bit expensive. I also like the Pomata Bistro. Pomata is one of the most famous chefs in Sardinia. There are actually two brothers. One has a restaurant in Cagliari and the other one manages the more upscale restaurant in Carlo Forte, which is Danicolo, which is the one I just mentioned. Pomata Bistro is a bit more easygoing, a very cozy place and they have excellent food. I also love Da Andrea Alcavalera. I go here every time I'm in Carlo Forte. They have delicious seafood dishes, especially the seafood spaghetti and a great selection of wines. There is also the Tonno di Corsa tuna on the run. Literally everyone in Carlo Forte swears by this restaurant. It's one of the most popular in Carlo Forte. Obviously, as the name says, it specializes in tuna dishes. Now this brings me to the end of today's episode. Before I share the topic of the next episode, let me remind you that if you ever need more tips, tips to plan your trip to Sardinia, you can book a one hour consultation with me. The link for that is in today's episode description. And of course, there's my blog, streetleaserdinia.com that has even more tips to plan your trip. Next week I'll be telling you everything about Santantioco island, which by the way is close to San Pietro Island. Finally, if you like my podcast, share it with your friends who are coming to Sardinia and give it a five star rating and a good review. Until next week. Goodbye. Now let the see that I'll be doing.