Stintino, Italy

Stintino, Italy: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Stintino is a coastal municipality in the Metropolitan City of Sassari, situated in the Italian region of Sardinia, approximately 200 kilometres north of Cagliari and 35 kilometres northwest of Sassari. As a landing point on Sardinia's northwestern shore, Stintino hosts submarine cable infrastructure connecting it to other parts of Italy. One submarine cable lands at Stintino, linking this Sardinian community to the broader Italian domestic cable network.

The cable serving Stintino — Piano Isole Minori — operates entirely within Italy, reflecting a domestic connectivity role rather than an intercontinental or international one. With an RFS year of 2024, this is a recently established cable connection, making Stintino a newer addition to Italy's submarine cable landscape. The cable's domestic scope positions Stintino as a node within an intra-national network designed to serve Italian islands and coastal communities.

Cables Landing at Stintino

Piano Isole Minori is an 830-kilometre submarine cable with a draft ready-for-service date of 2024. The cable connects locations entirely within Italy, serving as a domestic link rather than an international connection. Its name — meaning "Minor Islands Plan" — reflects its purpose of providing submarine cable connectivity to Italy's smaller island communities and coastal landing points. Stintino, on the northwestern tip of Sardinia, is one of the endpoints within this cable system.

Regional Context

Within Italy's submarine cable network, Stintino serves as a single-cable landing point, placing it among the more modestly connected locations in the country. Italy's busiest landing points include Mazara del Vallo with eight cables and Genoa with six, while Catania hosts three and Bari, Civitavecchia, and Olbia each host two. Stintino's neighbour on Sardinia's eastern coast, Olbia, also supports two cables, giving the island a degree of geographic distribution across its cable infrastructure.

Network Role

Stintino functions as a single-cable terminus within Italy's domestic submarine cable network. Through Piano Isole Minori, it is connected to other Italian locations via an 830-kilometre cable route, contributing to the intra-national connectivity of Sardinia and Italy's island territories. The cable's domestic character means Stintino's role is oriented toward bridging Sardinian coastal communities with the wider Italian network rather than enabling international data corridors.

As a relatively new landing point — with its cable dated to 2024 — Stintino represents a recent expansion of Italy's domestic submarine cable footprint. Within the regional submarine cable graph, its presence helps distribute connectivity across Sardinia's coastline alongside fellow Sardinian landing point Olbia, ensuring the island is served from more than one coastal location.