By law, the hotel had the right to the expansion. The Superintendency had said no. Its negative opinions, which were appealed, were rejected by the judges: "Illegitimate." But in the meantime, the regulation allowing hotel owners to increase the building's volume had "expired" because its effectiveness was limited in time. The result: no work was carried out on the hotel, excluding the possibility of increasing profits. And now the Superintendency of Archaeology and Fine Arts of Cagliari and Oristano has been ordered to pay damages: over €700,000. Still, much less (a tenth) than what was requested by the company that suffered the damage.

The mess created between laws and institutions is fully reflected in a Regional Administrative Court ruling filed today. The appeal to the administrative courts is by Tu.Ri.Cost. Srl, owner of the Hotel S'Incantu in Villasimius, which, it seems, is having a hard time finding peace: it had been at the center of an investigation and a trial on suspicion of Camorra money laundering, but in the end, nothing came of it.

In October 2020, the owners of the Campulongu resort had submitted an application "for authorization to increase the building's volume" based on the Regional Housing Plan: the goal was to build a restaurant connected to the rooms, offering guests a missing service. During the proceedings, at a conference of services, the Superintendency issued two opinions, both negative, which ultimately led to the rejection of the request. The Region also took action against the Cagliari office of the Ministry of Culture, challenging its opinions before the Constitutional Court. In 2022, the Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the Superintendency: "It was not up to the Superintendencies of Cagliari, Oristano and Southern Sardinia, and of Sassari and Nuoro to disregard the regional legislation," it ruled. In a parallel proceeding, however, the Constitutional Court, at the same time, rejected the extension of the Sardinian Housing Plan's effectiveness until 2023.

The Campulongu hotel's initiative was thus crushed: the application had been submitted in time, but between appeals and rulings—which had ruled in favor of the company that owned the resort—the deadline for obtaining approval had expired.

Before the Regional Administrative Court (TAR), Tu.Ri.Cost. requested compensation for damages, which, according to the appeal, should also include lost profits. The estimate was over €7.3 million. However, the judges in Piazza del Carmine argued that the estimate was excessive because "the actual activity was not carried out and, more generally, an event—the commencement and ongoing conduct of the business activity—cannot be considered to have occurred when , in reality, it did not occur and could have been subject to any contingency, even factual, during the course of the business activity or, even earlier, during the authorization process (due to physiological investigative needs that arose, for example, which cannot be completely ruled out)."

The company was awarded “only” 737,315 euros.

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