Ferries to the islands: which port to use

Two Italian islands need a ferry and they work differently: Sardinia is reached by long overnight crossings into 5 passenger ports, while Sicily is reached mainly by a short shuttle across the Strait from Villa San Giovanni to Messina.

Sardinia: eight ports, five that carry passengers

The Sardinia Sea port authority runs 8 ports: Cagliari, Olbia, Golfo Aranci, Porto Torres, Oristano, Portovesme, Arbatax and Santa Teresa Gallura. For crossings from the mainland, 5 of them matter: Olbia, Golfo Aranci, Porto Torres, Cagliari and Arbatax.

Each has a job. Olbia handles ferries and cruise ships at the Isola Bianca terminal and serves the northeast. Golfo Aranci is the Sardinian port closest to the mainland, 30 minutes of sailing beyond Olbia. Porto Torres is both the passenger port for the northwest and an industrial port. Santa Teresa Gallura is the link to Corsica, and Portovesme serves the island of San Pietro.

Olbia at Ferragosto, in numbers

Over the weekend of August 14 and 15, 2026, Olbia moved more than 47,000² passengers and over 16,000² accompanied vehicles in 48 hours, with 19 ferries alongside. The whole Sardinian port system handled 100,000² passengers and 140² ferry movements in the same window, on the authority's own estimate.

That is the peak, not the norm, and the figures were the authority's projection at the time of publication. It is still the number to keep in mind when choosing a sailing date in mid August: the port authority calls Olbia the first passenger port in the Mediterranean, a claim we have not verified independently.

From Rome: everything leaves from Civitavecchia

Civitavecchia, the port of Rome, has sailings to 4 Sardinian ports and 2 Sicilian ones, which makes it the main Tyrrhenian departure point for both islands. Grimaldi Lines and Tirrenia sail to Olbia, Grimaldi Lines to Porto Torres, Tirrenia to Cagliari and Arbatax, and Grandi Navi Veloci to Palermo and Termini Imerese.

Seasonal services come and go on top of this list and we have not verified them. Treat the operator names as the current pattern rather than a timetable.

Sicily has two port systems, for two different trips

The Strait port authority runs 6 ports as one system, Messina, Villa San Giovanni, Reggio Calabria, Milazzo, Tremestieri and Saline, and the Villa San Giovanni to Messina crossing is by far the most used way to bring a car to Sicily.

The West Sicily authority runs Palermo, Trapani, Termini Imerese, Porto Empedocle, Gela, Licata and Sciacca, with Palermo as its main passenger port. Those are the ports for the long crossings from the Tyrrhenian mainland, not for the Strait shuttle.

What we could not verify, and it matters

For the busiest crossing in the country, Villa San Giovanni to Messina, we have 0 verified figures on duration, frequency or operators, because the official pages we read do not publish them. The same applies to the routes from Palermo towards Naples, Genoa, Civitavecchia and Livorno, of which only Civitavecchia to Palermo is confirmed, and only from the departure end.

For most travelers coming from the United States or the United Kingdom, a flight beats a long crossing: Catania, Palermo, Cagliari and Olbia all have airports. The ferry earns its place when you are bringing a car.

↑ Contents