Olbia and Golfo Aranci’s ports have a natural vocation for tourism and cruises, thanks to their morphological characteristics, the quality of the services they offer, their central position in a land rich in natural and historical-artistic beauties of inestimable value.
Olbia’s name has Phoenician origins and means "happy city". During the Roman age it became a cross-roads for the commercial transactions of ancient Rome with Africa, the Balearic Islands, Spain, Campania and Sicily. Struck from the barbarian invasions, it went through a long period of decline until it resumed importance when, after the Unification of Italy, it became, together with Golfo Aranci, the main port connecting Sardinia with the continent. In the Sixties, Costa Smeralda’s tourist boom has favoured new investments that have led to a fast rise of the traffics, new docks and structures were built, among which the Modern Marine Station, that allowed the Old Port to be used exclusively for tourism and cruises. Both ports have an intense activity of pleasure cruises with structures and dockyards to the boats’service.