In the middle of the 16th century a group of Ligurian families - many of them from Pegli near Genoa - moved to a deserted island off the coast of the Tunisian city of Tabarka in order to work the waters as coral fishermen.
Tabarka |
This food is typical of the south western part of Sardinia, and was imported by Ligurian immigrants come from the Genoese colony of Tabarka in Tunisia.
Hammam Bourguiba (Arabic: حمام بورقيبة) is a mountain village in northwestern Tunisia in the Jendouba Governorate situated 17 kilometers west of Ain Draham and 32 kilometers south of Tabarka.
Eventually rail lines were built all along the coast from the northwest at Tabarka to Bizerte, to Tunis and Sousse, to Sfax and Gabès; inland routes went from the coastal ports to Gafsa, to Kasserine, and to El Kef.
The island is twinned with Carloforte, in the Sardinian San Pietro Island, which was also populated with Genoese from Tunisian Tabarka.