WTI Magazine #31    2014 May, 22
Author : folclore.it      Translation by:

Girotonno is the event for journalists, experts and connoisseurs of quality tuna. Chefs from all over the world will be in Carloforte, from May 30 to June 2, on the island of San Pietro (province of Carbonia-Iglesias) in the southwest of Sardinia, on the occasion of the eleventh edition of "Girotonno - Men, stories and flavors on the routes of tuna".

The international event involves food critics, internationally renowned chefs, culinary aficionados of tuna, experts of the Mediterranean gastronomy, nominating Carloforte "capital of quality tuna", as to say the "tuna racing" that is caught in St. Peter's trap in the days of the event.

Four days of appointments and meetings related to the cultural traditions, art, wine and food, music and entertainment; conferences and debates to celebrate the ancient tradition and culture of tuna, historically linked to the territory. The event, focused on an international culinary competition about tuna, welcomes to the ancient land of Sulcis Iglesias, in the southwest of Sardinia, gourmands and connoisseurs to promote the ancient tradition of the "tonnare" (tuna traps) that still is practiced and orally handed down.

During the festival, organized by the city of Carloforte, the ancient rite of the massacre is renewed: the red tuna - Bluefin (Thonnus thynnus) - is caught in an ancient "tonnara" of the island, the only active in the Mediterranean.

Focus of the event will be the "World Tuna Cuisine Competition", the international culinary competition with chefs from all over the world: from Australia, Italy, Germany, Japan, Peru, Spain and Tunisia they will all compete by offering a selection of recipes using cooked and uncooked tuna to a jury composed of national and international journalists and experts of food and wine, chaired by journalist Paul Marks, creator of "Identità Golose". Judging the dishes also a popular jury, made by visitors of the event that will grant a popular award.

The ancient and picturesque town, preferred route of the "runner of the seas", becomes the stage for a valuable opportunity for dialogue and cultural exchange between the Mediterranean regions that still keep alive the culture of tuna. The workshops will reveal the secrets of recipes from international gourmet related of tuna, while along the seafront and through the narrow streets of the historic center of Carloforte visitors will be provided with the best recipes and local food specialties.

There will also be the "Tuna Hours" moments, when the fishermen of Carloforte will show their catch, processing and cutting the tuna through an ideal travel from the sea to the table. At sunset, the Girotonno Live will provide space for music, cabaret, theater and performing arts.

One of the oldest traps in the Mediterranean, the "tonnara" in Carloforte stands at the top of the international tuna fishing quality with about 4,000 specimens caught. First for quantity in the whole Mediterranean, the trap has a centuries-old activity which never stopped since 1738, the year of foundation of the city. And before that, with the name of Ieracon, in Phoenician times, and of Acipitrum Insula, in the subsequent Roman period, the current San Pietro Island is the oldest known seat of traps.

In the course of history a profound ritual has established, binding this wonderful Mediterranean place to tuna. The Phoenicians loved tuna so much tuna that they even put it on their coins. In their obsessive pilgrimage routes of the Mediterranean in search of metals, these legendary merchants and sailors founded cities and established colonies, lived with Greeks, Romans, Sicilians and Sardinians ... and conceived the traps called "tonnare".