Travel Guide Carloforte

The only town on the island, Carloforte (7,000 inhabitants), is strongly influenced by the Ligurian origins of its inhabitants. In 2004 the town was named an honorary commune of the province of Genoa, due to the strong ties between the small Sardinian island and the capital of Liguria. The dialect, but also the architecture of Carloforte, have unique characteristics in Sardinia. You can see this when you arrive at the port, surrounded by small buildings dating from the nineteenth century, Liberty style, with light shades of pink, green and blue. Here, in summer, everyone meets for the evening walk. The central square on the street that runs along the port is dominated by the statue of Carlo Emanuele III, which is missing an arm. It was erected in 1788 in honor of the Ligurian king who had founded the city 50 years earlier. Following via Tagliafico, you arrive at the piazzetta Repubblica, surrounded by magnolias, and you can visit the late baroque church of San Carlo. The center of Carloforte offers picturesque views: its regular streets, not very open to traffic and too small for vehicles, sometimes turn into stairs. Its light-colored buildings all have small balconies from which people look out onto the street in summer. If you leave the harbor area and go up to the upper part, you come to the fortifications erected by the first inhabitants of the island, who feared an invasion by the Tunisians. These fortifications resemble the layout of a castle, and the street that runs alongside them is called Via Castello, the street of the Castle. But the coincidence and resemblance ends there because the towers and arches belong to simple fortification walls of the city. In via Castello, the government palace, a former prison, is today known as the Casa del Duca, it houses the governor's house and the first church of the city.