Sardinia news
Short, source-linked updates from around the island.
Four extra Christmas flights to Olbia from Trieste, as Volotea lifts winter seats 75%
Aeroitalia added four extra Trieste to Olbia flights for the holidays, on 24 and 30 December and 2 and 6 January, it said on 8 October. Alghero gets four of its own, on 23, 26 and 29 December and 4 January. The flights are one-off seasonal additions rather than a scheduled route, announced alongside a third weekly Trieste to Salerno frequency for the winter. Gaetano Intrieri, chief executive of Aeroitalia, said the airline was glad to strengthen its presence at Trieste, which it called a strategic point in its network. They land on top of a wider winter build-up at Olbia. Volotea said in August that it would keep its Olbia base running through the winter season with 75% more seats on sale than in the same period a year earlier. Madrid runs in winter for the first time, Bologna returns, Venice, Verona, Turin, Paris Orly and Barcelona run through the season, and Naples operates over the end-of-year holidays alone. That is eight winter destinations on Volotea alone. The framing matters. Volotea and the airport both pitched the winter programme at Sardinian residents and year-round mobility rather than inbound tourism, and the island's October 2025 figure of 1,416,009 overnight stays grew just 1.0% while September rose 11.7%. Winter remains Sardinia's thinnest season. For visitors this means more direct ways into Olbia over Christmas than a normal winter offers, several of them on single fixed dates with no alternative if they sell out.
Constitutional Court strikes down two articles of Emilia-Romagna's short-term rental law
Italy's Constitutional Court struck down two articles of Emilia-Romagna's short-term rental law on 9 October, in ruling 164/2026. The provisions came from regional law 10 of December 2025. Article 4 created a separate planning use class for short-term lets, so converting a home into one required a building permit anywhere in the region. Article 5 let municipalities attach conditions to that use in defined areas, and fell with it. The challenge was brought by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in February 2026 and heard on 7 July. The Court did not reject the aim. It called the goal of limiting overtourism meritevole di protezione, worthy of protection, and dismissed the government's argument that the rules breached the state's exclusive competence over competition. What failed was the method. Article 4 applied across the whole regional territory rather than where pressure exists, which the Court found sproporzionato, disproportionate, and it imposed a change of use on short-term landlords alone while extra-hotel operators, who must trade as businesses, faced no such step. That was an unreasonable disparity under articles 3 and 41 of the Constitution. The ruling does not close the door on regional rules. In December 2025, in judgment 186/2025, the same Court upheld Tuscany's law letting provincial capitals and high tourist-density municipalities set limits and exclusion zones for short-term lets. Targeted and zoned survives; blanket and region-wide does not. Sardinia has no equivalent law, and for owners and visitors here nothing changes today.
Olbia third on Skyscanner's 2027 US trending list, flight searches up 143%
Olbia ranked third on Skyscanner's trending destinations list for 2027, with flight searches up 143%, in a report the travel site published on 8 October. The figure counts roundtrip flight searches made on Skyscanner between 1 January and 17 June 2026, for travel during 2026, against the same period of 2025. Only Vero Beach in Florida (+201%) and Bimini in the Bahamas (+150%) rose faster. Olbia is the only Italian entry on the list. The ranking is narrower than it looks. Skyscanner says it handpicked ten destinations with some of the biggest year-over-year search rises, then selected them for travel suitability, so this is a curated shortlist and not a ranking of every destination it tracks. It is also specific to one market. The list runs on Skyscanner's US site and reflects American searches. The company's UK edition of the same report is a different list, led by Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan at +501%, with Trapani in Sicily the only Italian entry at +95% and no mention of Olbia. The base is small. Americans accounted for 398,607 overnight stays in Sardinia in 2025, about 1.8% of the island's 21.9 million, against 3,262,084 from Germany, so a 143% rise in searches starts from a modest share of real visitors. Searches are also intent, not bookings. For visitors this means more American competition for beds in Gallura in 2027, most of it around the Costa Smeralda season, and good reason to book peak dates early.
Sardinia second in Italy for summer 2026 occupancy at 67.2%, fourth in September
Sardinia ranked second in Italy for summer 2026 occupancy at 67.2%, a tenth of a point behind Trento, the Ministry of Tourism reported on 12 September. The figure is the share of accommodation sold on the major online travel agencies that was booked between 15 June and 15 September, measured by The Data Appeal Company, and not the official bed-occupancy series. Sardinia's rate was 13% higher than in summer 2025. Italy averaged 61.8%, ahead of Spain (54.7%) and France (45.6%), and counted more than 276 million overnight stays from June to August, up 2% on 2025. September tells a different story. On the ministry's September reading Sardinia falls to fourth at 56.5%, behind Veneto (59.2%), Lazio (58.5%) and Sicily (57.8%), and only 0.3 points above the national 56.2%. The longer season is still visible in the official 2025 data, where September (3,485,434 nights) was larger than June, and in the port calendar: 54 of the island's 96 luxury cruise calls for 2026 fall between September and December. Regional tourism councillor Franco Cuccureddu told La Nuova Sardegna that the island cannot be sold as a beach-only product, because the peak months are close to sold out. Operators say the extra visitors are spending less. Gian Battista Piana, regional director of the traders' association Confesercenti, said on 28 August that operators report spending in restaurants and tourist services down 20 to 25%, up to 40% in some areas, figures he said official statistics still have to confirm. For visitors this means July and August remain the hardest weeks to book, while September offers more availability with occupancy still slightly above the Italian average.
21.9 million overnight stays in 2025: Sardinia up 16%, Gallura holds 35% of all nights
Sardinia counted 5,170,093 arrivals and 21,922,765 overnight stays in 2025, up 16.4% and 16.0% on 2024, according to the tables published in August by the Regione Sardegna Osservatorio del Turismo (ROSS1000-SIRED data extracted on 18 June 2026, which may differ marginally from ISTAT's certified series because of late corrections). Foreign visitors supplied 12,170,692 nights, 55.5% of the total and up 21.5%, led by Germany (3,262,084), France (1,608,906) and Switzerland (1,042,919); Poland (+36.3%) and the United States (+33.3%) grew fastest among the larger markets. The Province of Gallura Nord-Est Sardegna registered 1,624,729 arrivals and 7,696,261 overnight stays (+15.5% and +11.5%), 35.1% of all nights on the island and more than Cagliari (5,170,269) or Sassari (3,297,115). Olbia logged 362,778 arrivals and 1,161,262 nights (+11.3% and +7.6%), third among Sardinian comuni after Alghero and Arzachena. Golfo Aranci was one of the fastest-growing comuni on the island: 59,380 arrivals and 333,123 nights, up 35.0% and 42.1%, with an average stay of 5.61 nights. Hotels added 8.0% to 11,015,596 nights, while extra-hotel accommodation rose 25.2% to 10,907,169, now 49.8% of the total; non-business private lets alone grew 37.3% to 4,460,195 nights. The season also widened: April was up 39.9% and September (3,485,434 nights) exceeded June. For visitors this means a longer bookable season in Gallura, more demand for apartments and villas, and busier shoulder months.
EU Commission proposes Affordable Housing Act with new powers to limit short-term rentals
On Wednesday 9 September 2026 the European Commission presented the Affordable Housing Act, a proposed EU regulation that lets national, regional and local authorities designate "areas under housing stress". An area normally qualifies where an average home costs at least eight times disposable income per person, that ratio has risen over ten years and pressure is unlikely to ease within three; at ten times or more, the ten-year test is dropped. The European Parliament and the member states must still approve it. In such areas, authorities must show a "significant adverse effect" from short-term rentals over at least three years. They may then introduce authorisation schemes, quantitative limits or bans on short-term letting of homes that are not the host's primary residence, and limit purchases of homes for short-term letting (for future purchases only). Restrictions are capped at five years, renewable after review. Hosts renting their own primary residence are exempt. "Housing has become too expensive for many people in the EU," the European Commission said. Industry groups counter that short-term rentals are about 1.2% of EU housing stock. In Sardinia the criteria have not yet been applied to any comune. In 2025 the island counted 46,024 private lodgings, 15,926 of them in Gallura Nord-Est Sardegna around Olbia and Golfo Aranci. Banca d'Italia puts the average home price at €1,587 per square metre in tourist comuni against €714 elsewhere. For visitors nothing changes now: since 20 May 2026 platforms already verify Italy's CIN registration numbers under the EU Short-Term Rental Data Regulation.
United Airlines Expands Mediterranean Reach with Direct Newark–Olbia Route Starting May 2027
United Airlines has announced a major expansion of its international network for the 2027 summer season, highlighting a new seasonal nonstop connection between New York/Newark (EWR) and Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB) in Sardinia. Scheduled to launch on May 27, 2027, the route will operate three times weekly utilizing a Boeing 767-300ER aircraft. This milestone route reinforces the growing international demand for Sardinia. United joins Delta Air Lines, which introduced direct JFK-to-Olbia connections in 2026. Combined, the two major carriers will provide daily direct flights from the New York metropolitan area to northeastern Sardinia throughout the peak summer season. The addition of United’s Newark hub unlocks seamless single-connection access to Sardinia for travelers originating across North America. For the island’s tourism and hospitality sectors—particularly short-term rentals and boutique accommodations across Gallura and the Costa Smeralda—the increased transatlantic connectivity is expected to boost occupancy, extend the shoulder season into May and September, and drive higher average daily spend.
Airbnb Luxe Admits AZULIS Villas Dumas — Two of Sardinia’s Ten Luxe Homes
Airbnb Luxe has officially welcomed AZULIS Villas Dumas, comprising Villa Athos and Villa Aramis, into its prestigious collection. This milestone was achieved following an in-person inspection by an Airbnb home consultant, ensuring that the villas meet the high standards of design, comfort, and service required for Luxe status. Villa Athos became available on 14 July 2026, with Villa Aramis set to join shortly after, bringing the total number of Luxe homes in Sardinia to ten. Operated by RENTAL12, a family-run hospitality brand founded by Floriana Panvini Rosati and Kristina Zotova, the villas are located in Golfo Aranci. The company prides itself on its hands-on approach, managing 37 properties and maintaining a 4.9-star rating from over 1,550 reviews since its inception in 2021. The villas were built without debt and feature high-end specifications, including A++ energy classification, designer interiors, and curated art. The inspection process for Luxe homes is rigorous; it involves a detailed walkthrough of each room, ensuring that no modifications are made solely for the inspection. This commitment to quality is reflected in the villas' design, which emphasizes timeless elegance and a connection to Sardinia's landscape. Villa Athos accommodates six guests, while Villa Aramis can host eight, both featuring private heated pools and stunning sea views. The addition of AZULIS Villas Dumas to the Airbnb Luxe collection is a significant achievement for RENTAL12, highlighting the brand's dedication to excellence in hospitality. The villas opened to their first guests on 15 June 2026, marking a successful expansion for the company as it celebrates its fifth anniversary.