The Sardinia Regional Administrative Court (TAR) has suspended the overnight anchorage ban for boats mooring at La Maddalena. The news came out yesterday, but there’s a catch: the judges’ decision has reinstated a previous ordinance from 2007, which imposed the same ban but with significantly lighter penalties.
The decision to prohibit overnight anchoring and increase fines was issued on August 6 of last year. The La Maddalena Park Authority had issued an ordinance introducing several environmental protection measures, including a ban on overnight anchoring in the roadstead for boat owners. Exceptions were made only for residents of La Maddalena and companies legally registered in La Maddalena for at least five years, and even then, only if they used buoys placed by the park authority. For all other visitors, the ban had been enforced—and remained in place this year.
Protests erupted immediately. Overnight anchoring in the roadstead has always been a popular practice among boaters visiting this stunning coastal area of Sardinia, and many questioned the environmental logic of a ban that applied only at night and not during the day. The North East Sardinia Nautical Operators Association filed an appeal with the TAR, which was supported by the mayor of Arzachena, Roberto Ragnedda. Since Arzachena is located across from La Maddalena, many of its boats had been affected by the ban on overnight mooring.
The administrative judges issued their ruling yesterday, suspending the La Maddalena Park Authority’s ordinance. However, this is only a provisional measure: the Sardinia Regional Administrative Court (TAR) has scheduled the full hearing for January 15, and only then will it be determined whether the overnight anchorage ban is legally valid. If the judges deem it illegitimate, the ordinance will be definitively annulled; otherwise, it will come back into effect next year.
Claudio Denzi, president of the North East Sardinia Nautical Operators Association, expressed relief and welcomed the TAR’s decision. Speaking to La Nuova Sardegna, he said: “The law has prevailed. The TAR recognized our arguments and responded to yet another abuse designed to benefit resident operators. In our appeal, we raised no objections to the environmental provisions or the increased penalties, but we questioned what real damage nighttime anchoring causes to the seabed compared to the thousands of boats allowed during the day. And above all, what’s the difference between an ‘islander’ anchor and a ‘mainland’ one? We hope the Park Authority can now operate without external pressures, and calmly establish true protective rules that safeguard both the environment and the work of legitimate operators. On these grounds, we are fully ready to cooperate”. The association has also put forward some alternative proposals, such as banning disembarkation on the beaches and introducing a carbon tax on the kilowatt output of combustion engines.
In response, Giulio Plastina, Director of the La Maddalena Park Authority, pointed out that “With the suspension of the August 6 ordinance, Ordinance No. 3 from July 2007 is once again in force. The only difference between the two is the increase in penalties—in the 2024 version, they were multiplied tenfold. The possibility of anchoring after 10 p.m. was still reserved only for residents, yet that 2007 ordinance was never challenged”.
In short, the issue remains complex, and the final word has yet to be spoken.
