Stagno di Cabras

The Stagno di Cabras is a large, shallow lagoon just west of the town of Cabras, separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land. It's one of the largest coastal lagoons in Italy — around 22 square kilometres — and an important wetland for birds: flamingos are common, as are herons, egrets, and migratory species in spring and autumn.

The lagoon is also the heart of Sardinia's bottarga industry. The grey mullet that run through it in autumn produce the roe from which bottarga is made. You can buy it in the markets of Oristano and Cabras, where it comes sliced thin or in whole pressed sacs. It tastes intensely of the sea — briny, rich, and unmistakably Sardinian.

things to do sight
A story
The lagoon is the source of Sardinia's most prized bottarga — the salted, pressed roe of grey mullet, sometimes called "Sardinian caviar." The mullet (muggini) feed in the lagoon's brackish water and have been harvested here since Phoenician times. The process of making bottarga has changed almost nothing in two millennia: the roe sacs are extracted whole, salted, pressed under weighted boards, and dried for months. A single sac can take 90 days to cure.