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.
