There are 3,600 small and medium-sized businesses, with over 7,500 employees and a turnover of €680 million, operating in Sardinia's 34 mountain municipalities. Their existence is made difficult by the challenging infrastructure situation, with the greatest gap compared to the lowland, hilly, and coastal areas. This, in short, is the finding of the analysis by the Research Department of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna, through the report "Economy and businesses in Sardinia's mountains: perimeters, trends, and economic policy," which analyzed the structure and dynamics of artisan businesses in the island's mountain municipalities and inland areas, using ISTAT 2023-2025 data.
The analysis depicts an island caught between an unprecedented demographic decline, which will severely impact production capacity, and chronic difficulty accessing primary infrastructure, exacerbated by a high hydrogeological risk that threatens the future of the territory but also the ability of businesses to "support" those areas.
"The data confirms that inland Sardinia is facing a major existential challenge," comments Giuseppe Pireddu, President of Confartigianato Nuoro-Ogliastra. "In fact, the combination of a severe demographic decline and infrastructural barriers threatens to economically desertify the heart of the island. Amidst all this evolution lies the energy of the productive activities that remain in the territories, a bulwark of the local economy and its decline." "This requires a public investment plan that focuses not only on maintaining the territory against hydrogeological risks," adds Pireddu, "but above all on reducing travel times and promoting small artisan businesses as social and demographic assets. Without structural interventions, the 'demographic glaciation' will become irreversible within the next twenty years."
Specifically, Sardinian mountain SMEs (non-agricultural) number 3,619, representing 3% of all those registered on the island, compared to the national average of 11.5% and 16.9% in the province of Nuoro. Their 7,527 employees represent 2.5% of all non-agricultural workers in Sardinia, compared to the national average of 11.4% and the average for Nuoro of 14.6%. These include 1,564 artisan businesses (18.7% of all mountain businesses) with 2,705 employees (39.1% of mountain workers). In the Nuoro area, there are 2,480 businesses, of which 1,089 are artisan businesses; in the Sassari-Gallura area, there are 915, of which 408 are artisan businesses; and in Southern Sardinia, there are 224, of which 67 are artisan businesses. Revenue from the mountains reaches €679 million, 1.5% of Sardinia's total, with an added value of €203 million (1.6% of the total). 6.6% of Sardinian manufacturing companies operate in the mountains, compared to the Italian average of 9.1%; 10.7% are involved in construction (14% Italian average) and 26.6% in services (national average 58.5%), while the remaining 56% is divided into other activities.
