Long defined by one of Sardinia's largest industrial zones, Porto Torres is currently navigating a major economic transition. The island's second-biggest seaport is shifting its focus from manufacturing to tourism, spurred by the creation of the nearby Asinara National Park. Now 22,391 strong, the city commands the center of the Gulf of Asinara.
Before the twentieth-century factories appeared, this coastal stretch was established in the 1st century BC as Colonia Iulia Turris Libisonis—the first Roman colony on the island. Though it lost its episcopal seat to neighboring Sassari in 1441, the municipality regained independence in 1842 and remains a strategic maritime gateway; the Romanesque basilica of San Gavino, the largest in Sardinia, guards its medieval memory.
Near Porto Torres
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
