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Carloforte

Giorgio Dagna, The Gate of the Carloforte Wall. Private Collection.
Giorgio Dagna, The Gate of the Carloforte Wall. Private Collection.

In a Sardinia of dazzling beauty, beloved by tourists for its stunning beaches, wild hinterland and art and culture, there is an island within an island, tiny San Pietro, that was colonized in the eighteenth century by a group of Ligurian sailors coming from the Tunisian island of Tabarka, who preserved the dialect, culture and traditions of the Ligurian Riviera. The principal town of San Pietro is Carloforte, u paize, , town, in local dialect, a charming village set up to host the colony and named after Carlo Emanuele III of Savoy, who conceded what was known until then as the Isola degli Sparvieri (the Island of the Sparrowhawks) to the community coming from Tabarka.

The community of Carloforte is a strong one, as testified by the years of exile in Tunisia of a large group of locals kidnapped during a pirate raid. Napoleon was among those who interceded to help free the brave exiles, having met an inhabitant from the Isola di San Pietro during the battle of the Isola della Maddalena, when the French navy was defeated in part thanks to the courageous conduct of Admiral Vittorio Porcile, a Carloforte native. Moreover, Carloforte was one of the first free communities of modernity: in January 1793, a Tree of Liberty was raised on the island and a city Constitution was drafted with the help of the revolutionary from Pisa, Filippo Buonarroti.