What to do · Stintino and Asinara Island
Stintino Tonnara Museum (MuT), the tuna fishing that founded the town
Information
- Price
- 5
- Duration
- 1 h
- Season
- All year, with seasonal hours
- Who it's for
- All ages; videos with English subtitles
Stintino was born from, and lived on, tuna. For generations, each season a tuna trap, the tonnara, was set in the Gulf of Asinara, a maze of nets that guided the shoals of tuna to a final chamber where they were caught by hand, in the mattanza. The Tonnara Saline, south of the town, operated until the 1970s. The MuT, the municipal museum opened in 2016, tells that story in the old ALPI company building on Via Lepanto.
What you see
The visit imitates a tuna trap: according to Sardegna Turismo, the rooms are named after the chambers of the net, from the camera grande to the camera della morte, the killing chamber, and you walk through them in the order the tuna did. There is original tackle, tonnara diaries, press cuttings, the clothing of the mattanza, models of the boats and of the trap itself, and photographs from the late 19th century to the closure. There are also paintings by Sardinian painters who portrayed tonnara life, such as Stanis Dessy or Nani Tedeschi.
A series of videos, with Italian narration and English subtitles, tells the story of the Tonnara Saline, of Stintino and of the families who came from Asinara. It is a one-hour visit, good for a spell of heat or wind.
Opening hours and price
It is closed on Mondays for most of the year. From June to September it is open Tuesday to Sunday in the evening, from 17:30 to 20:30, and Wednesday to Sunday also in the morning, from 10:30 to 13:30. From October to December, Tuesday to Thursday mornings, Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday morning and evening. From January to March, Wednesday, Thursday and weekends. The website does not publish the hours for April and May: write before you go. Last admission is half an hour before closing.
Admission costs €5. €3 is paid by young people aged 15 to 25, over-65s and anyone who shows the receipt for the Stintino tourist tax. Under-15s go in free. The guided visit in Italian costs €3 or €4 more per person, and in English €5 or €7, booked by email.
Getting there
It is in the town, on Via Lepanto, a few minutes' walk from the harbour. Combine it with a walk round the two harbours at sunset, when the boats come back, or with a tuna lunch at a restaurant on the promenade.
As a family
