Further groundwater monitoring, a review of the planned remediation projects, and a new examination of the noise mitigation measures included in the work plan. These are the additional analyses requested by the Region at the end of 2025 to authorize, as a sort of cross-examination of the project reports, the opening of construction at the former Marino hospital in Cagliari. Technically, the passage of the law is called "compliance with environmental conditions." The seal has been reached, the test has been passed: the redevelopment of the Colonia Dux can begin at Poetto, which after the Second World War became the first orthopedic hospital in Cagliari and Sardinia.

The document

Months of additional studies and monitoring have been necessary. Because on the Spiaggia dei Centomila, every grain of sand weighs more than gold. Every dune is a natural defense against erosion. But now this protection of the ecosystem and landscape is also guaranteed. For today and tomorrow. For those who are here and for those who will come. The document has been online since April 3 on the Regional Noticeboard, but "Colonia Hotel srl was notified of its compliance on March 31," wrote the General Directorate of the Department of the Environment. Colonia Hotel is the company that won the public tender at the end of 2021: it is headed by entrepreneur Sergio Zuncheddu, publisher of the L'Unione Sarda Group. The "development and management of the 'Former Marino Hospital' complex," as stated in the document's subject line, requires no further correspondence. The pre-construction process ends here. "Ante operam," according to the wording of the public documents, there is nothing more to be done.

The green light

Colonia Hotel srl's first project will be to remove asbestos from the old hospital. Until the 1990s, when its use was banned in Italy, its use in construction was commonplace because it was fireproof, insulating, and resistant to corrosion. "At the old Marino hospital, there are traces of asbestos even in the glues used for the flooring," explains Matteo Rocca, the company's technical director. "This wasn't a known fact; it came to light during the in-depth investigations conducted after the project's final approval in December 2025, prior to the start of construction. The remediation work will be carried out according to the guidelines of Spresal, the Prevention and Safety Service of Cagliari's Local Health Authority (ASL 8), with unforeseen costs." The project begins precisely here, with environmental remediation. "A complex process has been completed," continues the Colonia Hotel engineer. The redevelopment of the Marino demonstrates that conservative recovery is practicable even in sensitive contexts such as Poetto beach, giving new life, in a sustainable way, to a historic property with direct monumental protection from the Superintendency", is Rocca's reference to the Colonia Dux.

The intervention

In the end, nearly a century of history will be celebrated on the renovated Marino, with the same original curves. Convex on the street side, concave on the sea side. White and glass will dominate. Ubaldo Badas, the Cagliari-born architect who was commissioned to design the project in the late 1930s, envisioned the children's summer camp this way: an alternation of solids and voids, which will now house some sixty five-star suites. A hotel "designed according to criteria of minimal impact and full reversibility" was the design mantra repeated on more than one occasion by Councilor Rosanna Laconi who, on October 8th, brought before the City Council Resolution No. 52/58, which decreed the "passing of environmental checks without the need for an environmental impact assessment," but with the requirement of "ante operam compliance." The surface area of the former Marino, as measured by the Regional State Property Office, which manages the complex, is 12,488 square meters, of which 73 percent will be open space.

All entities

Following the October resolution, on December 17, 2025, Cagliari's SUAPE (the Municipality's One-Stop Shop) acknowledged the decision, having previously approved it with the Planning Department. The process lasted five years and also involved the ARPAS environmental agency and the Molentargius Park Authority. The regional Department of Urban Planning, the State Property Office of Sardinia, the Metropolitan City, the Departmental Inspectorate of the Forestry Corps, the Hydrographic District, and the Port Authority also expressed their opinion on the redevelopment of the old Marino site. Mayor Massimo Zedda has consistently emphasized: "After decades, the building's deteriorated condition has been remedied."

The announcement

It was early 2021 when the Region published the tender for the redevelopment of the Marino Hotel on Poetto Beach. The award criterion (which was only granted at the end of last year) was the largest increase over the tender's base rent of €418,797.60. Colonia Hotel won with a 1,200% increase, the highest of all. Proma srl had offered 30.92%; for Sha Société Hôtelière des Alpes spa, 45%. Cosir srl offered 977.17%, while Hotel Regina Margherita srl stopped at 1,199%. The five-star luxury Colonia will be ready for the 2027 tourist season.

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