The small Istrian town of Tinjan now holds a Guinness World Record: 285 carvers slicing pršut at the same time, beating the old mark of 205 set in Spain eight years earlier. The attempt opened the 18th International Pršut Fair (ISAP 2026), which ran from Friday to Sunday in mid-October, with London-based Guinness adjudicator Joanne Brent confirming that 285 of the 300 participants had successfully completed the challenge under what the town's mayor, Goran Hrvatin, described as strict rules and plenty of volunteer effort.
The fair itself is the bigger draw for food-loving travellers. Around 40 prosciutto producers gathered in Tinjan, not only from Istria and across Croatia but also from Slovenia, Italy, Spain and Montenegro — essentially a three-day, cross-Adriatic celebration of dry-cured ham. Awards were handed out to the best producers during the opening ceremony, so it doubles as a reliable guide to whose hams are worth seeking out.
Croatia's pršut credentials run deeper than one record attempt. The country has four protected varieties — Istrian, Krk, Drniš and Dalmatian — each holding EU protected designation of origin or protected geographical indication status. Agriculture Minister David Vlajčić, speaking at the fair, noted that Croatia produces around 500,000 hams a year and that Slavonian ham is expected to earn protected status soon, joining recent additions like Čepin cabbage and Banovina chestnut honey to the country's protected-foods list.
For visitors, Tinjan sits in central Istria, a short drive from the hill towns of Motovun and Grožnjan and well under an hour from the coast at Poreč or Rovinj. The fair typically takes place in October, a shoulder season when Istria's summer crowds are gone but truffle season and the autumn harvest are in full swing — pairing the ham fair with Istria's famous white truffle hunting makes for a strong food-focused autumn trip.
Even outside fair weekend, Istrian pršut is easy to find: it appears on konoba (tavern) boards across the peninsula, usually thinly sliced with sheep's cheese, olives and local Malvazija wine. If the record attempt tells you anything, it's that this region takes its ham seriously — and is happy to prove it in front of a Guinness official.
