ISAP in Tinjan: three days of hand-cut Istrian pršut

Istrians call a whole leg of pršut vijulin, the violin, and every October the village of Tinjan gives it three days of its own. ISAP, the Internacionalni sajam pršuta, fills a large tent and the fields around the village with ham producers, tasters and concert crowds. The municipality of Tinjan organises the fair. It began in 2006, and the 2026 edition was the 18th. More than 25,000 people come each year, according to the municipality.

Tinjan, the village of Istrian pršut

Tinjan lies on a ridge in central Istria, 10 km west of Pazin on the road to Poreč. The old core is one street of stone houses, a square with a loggia and the parish church of St Simon and Jude. You walk it in 10 minutes. The municipality takes in the hamlets around it and the village of Kringa, and most of the producers' drying rooms stand in these hamlets. The bura, the cold north-east wind, comes down from the Ćićarija ridge and dries the hams in attics and lofts. In 2006 Tinjan declared itself Općina istarskog pršuta, the municipality of Istrian pršut, and held the first fair the same year.

What makes Istrian pršut

Istarski pršut has carried an EU protected designation of origin since 2015, after a national designation in 2002. The rules fix the method. Producers remove the skin and the fat under it from the leg, up to about 10 cm above the hock. They salt the ham dry with sea salt and rub in black pepper, garlic, bay and rosemary. Drying and ripening take 12 to 18 months. The ham dries in the bura and in cool stone cellars, and it is never smoked. The cut is dark, dry and peppery.

In a konoba the pršut comes hand-cut, in long thin slices, on a wooden board. It usually arrives with hard sheep cheese, olives, bread and olive oil, often beside ombolo, the dry-cured pork loin, and home-made sausage. The ham is firm, so a long narrow knife and a steady hand give the best cut. That skill is what the cutting masterclasses at the fair teach. Traditionally a new ham goes on the table in late summer, from August. Drink malvazija, the white grape of the peninsula, or teran, the dark red from the red soil of the north.

What happens at the fair

ISAP runs from Friday to Sunday, in a large tent and at stalls in the open air. In 2025 the fair used a record 4,500 square metres under cover and about 6,000 outdoors. Producers from Istria and the rest of Croatia stand beside guests from Italy, Slovenia and Spain, and in some years from Portugal and Montenegro. The programme repeats a set of fixed parts:

• Exhibitors: ham producers at their own stands, surrounded by stalls with cheese, olive oil, wine, fruit and vegetable products and souvenirs.
• Judging: a commission from GUSTUS, the association of pršut sensory analysts founded in Tinjan in 2010, scores the hams. The best producers receive plaques at the opening, and one is named champion of the fair.
• Tastings and talks: guided pršut tastings led by GUSTUS, presentations of European hams and lectures on production.
• Masterclasses: in 2025 and 2026, courses in cutting pršut and in laying out an Istrian platter ran in the days before the fair.
• Tradition: the folklore group Kumpanija Kosirići, the traditional kosir exhibition and the local heritage collection Zavičajna zbirka Enriko Depiera.
• Sport: the bike ride Od lokve do lokve, the pljočkanje festival with players from Croatia, Slovenia and Italy, the ISAP run and the family run Lov na istarski pršut.
• Concerts: well-known Croatian and regional performers on the main stage every evening, with bands and DJs in the tent.

ISAP 2027

The municipality of Tinjan has not yet announced the dates of ISAP 2027. On 20 October 2026 the next edition appeared neither on tinjan.hr nor in the Istria tourist board calendar. The fair follows a steady pattern: the municipality holds it on the third weekend of October, from Friday to Sunday. The pattern of the last three editions:

• 2024, 16th edition: Friday 18 to Sunday 20 October.
• 2025, 17th edition: Friday 17 to Sunday 19 October.
• 2026, 18th edition: Friday 16 to Sunday 18 October.

The municipality announces each edition on tinjan.hr. For 2026 the calls for exhibitors went out on 24 August and the detailed programme with a map of the fair followed on 9 October. The confirmed 2027 dates will appear there first.

ISAP 2026 in review

The 18th ISAP ran from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 October 2026 and opened with a world record. At 10:00 on Friday, 304 carvers lined up in the fair tent, each with a leg of pršut and a long knife. Each had two minutes to cut at least five slices between 0.5 and 1.5 mm thick. Guinness rules kept the public out of the tent, so the crowd watched on a large screen outside.

Guinness adjudicator Joanne Brent checked the evidence and announced the result at the opening ceremony at 14:00. She counted 285 carvers who met every condition. The previous record of 205 was set in Torrijos, Spain, in 2018, so Tinjan beat it by 80. Mayor Goran Hrvatin, who prepared the attempt, called the rules strict. The municipality gave all the cut ham to the primary school Osnovna škola Vladimira Nazora, the Tinjan branch school and the Pazin care home for the elderly.

Producers received their awards at the same ceremony. Severina and the Tequila band played on Friday night, Neda Ukraden and Mejaši on Saturday, Night Express on Sunday evening. GUSTUS led guided tastings on Saturday at 18:00 and Sunday at 12:00, and its conference Pršut bez maske 2.0 discussed quality and branding. More than 100 exhibitors took part, 35 of them ham producers from Croatia, Italy, Slovenia and Spain. By Saturday the fair counted 21,500 arrivals, more than the whole previous edition, the regional portal IstraIN reported.

Getting to Tinjan

Tinjan is 10 km from Pazin and about 25 km from Poreč, on the road between them. From the A8 motorway take the Pazin exit. From the coast, drive inland through Sveti Lovreč. On fair days the organisers set up parking in the fields around the village, a few minutes' walk from the square. The nearest railway station is Pazin, on the line from Pula through central Istria to Buzet, with a few trains a day. Buses from Pula, Poreč and Rijeka also stop in Pazin. Local buses to Tinjan are rare, so plan a taxi from Pazin or a lift from your host. Pula airport is about 45 km south, with car hire at the terminal. From Rijeka the A8 runs through the Učka tunnel to the Pazin exit in about 1 hour.

Where to stay

Tinjan has a handful of beds in private rooms in the village and on agrotourism farms in the hamlets. They fill early for the fair weekend, so book these first if you want to walk back from the concerts. Pazin, 10 km away, has a few small hotels and a quiet centre. Poreč, 25 km away, keeps large hotels open on the coast into mid-October. Motovun has rooms too, though the truffle weekends fill them. Rovinj is 40 minutes away and open all year.

Tips for the fair weekend

• Bring cash. Stalls take cash first and cards second, and the nearest cash machines and petrol stations are in Pazin.
• Taste before you buy. Producers cut samples at their stands, and the guided tastings show what to look for.
• Buy a vacuum-packed piece of 300 to 500 grams for a long journey. It keeps for weeks in the fridge. Ask for the protected-origin seal and the year of drying.
• Dress for the evening. Mid-October days in central Istria reach around 17 degrees, evenings drop below 10 and rain is common. Closed shoes help in the field car parks.
• Settle who drives. Croatia's limit is 0.5 per mille of blood alcohol, and zero for drivers under 24 with a Croatian licence and for professional drivers.
• Eat the ham in Croatia if you fly to the United States, Canada or Australia: their borders stop pork products in personal luggage. UK rules on meat from the EU have changed several times since 2021, so check gov.uk before you pack one.

Truffles, chestnuts and new wine

ISAP falls in the middle of the Istrian autumn. The white truffle season in the Motovun forest runs at the same time, within half an hour of Tinjan by car, and the Zigante truffle days in Livade fill the October weekends with the truffle market and the hunt. One Saturday holds both: pršut in Tinjan at midday, truffles in Livade in the afternoon, dinner on the hill in Motovun. Chestnuts and young wine follow in the same weeks. Kastav above Rijeka pours its new wine at Bela nedeja on the first weekend of October, and Martinje on 11 November blesses the young wine across Croatia. The autumn events calendar lists the other fairs of the season.

Tinjan between fairs

The Hiža istarskog pršuta, a municipal building on the main road, runs tastings and sales of Istrian pršut through the year. Its upper floor is planned as a museum of pršut making. The municipality gives information on +385 52 626 090 and at opcina@tinjan.hr. Everything below is within 30 minutes of Tinjan by car:

• Beram, 8 km: the church of St Mary on Škriljinah holds the Dance of Death frescoes painted by Vincent of Kastav in 1474.
• Pazin, 10 km: the castle on the edge of the chasm where the Pazinčica river goes underground, with the Ethnographic Museum of Istria inside.
• Kringa, 5 km: the village of Jure Grando, whose strange case of 1672 Johann Weikhard Valvasor recorded as one of Europe's first vampire stories.
• Sveti Petar u Šumi, 7 km: the Pauline monastery with its cloister and church.
• Dvigrad, 20 km: the medieval town above the Lim valley near Kanfanar, empty since the 17th century and open to walk through.
• Poreč, 25 km: the Euphrasian Basilica with its 6th-century mosaics, on the UNESCO list since 1997.