It’s Italy’s first “Village of Stars”: it turns off the lights to light up the sky

Allai is the first Italian village to be certified as a “Village of Stars” by the Starlight Foundation. Four years of work to fight against light pollution.

Just over three hundred residents, a handful of dark stone alleyways, and a sky the likes of which are rarely seen in Italy anymore. We’re talking about Allai, a Sardinian village in the Barigadu region of the province of Oristano, which has just achieved a milestone few would have imagined for such a small community. It's the first Italian village to be awarded the international “Village of Stars” certification, issued by the Starlight Foundation of the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics.

The distinction, recognized worldwide by the International Astronomical Union, UNESCO, and the World Tourism Organization, honors areas where light pollution remains below minimum thresholds and where there is a genuine strategy to promote the celestial heritage. This is therefore not merely a superficial label, but the culmination of four years of work.

Four years of turning off the lights

The municipality has entirely redesigned its street lighting, replacing aging fixtures with technologies that direct the light downward. This system eliminates upward light pollution—the main reason why, in urban areas, the stars visible to the naked eye can be counted on one hand. At the same time, panoramic benches—designed for stargazing and equipped with star charts—have been installed at three iconic locations in the village. This project was carried out with the support of the L’Unione Sarda Planetarium and two astrophysicists, Flavia Dell’Agli of the INAF in Rome and Manuel Floris, a member of the Planetarium. Together, they organized observation evenings, lectures, and photography workshops in Allai, open to residents, schools, and enthusiasts from across the island.

Darkness as a resource

With this certification, Allai joins a very exclusive international network and becomes part of the only two “Star Parks” in Italy: the Saint-Barthélemy Astronomical Observatory in the Aosta Valley and the GAL Hassin Astronomical Park in Isnello, Sicily. The difference lies in the fact that the title was awarded to a historic, inhabited village, rather than to a mere isolated observation site. It's clear that environmental protection is seen here as a potential driver of development for a hinterland region marked by depopulation. The main focus is on astro-tourism. The goal? To attract “slow” and curious travelers who come all the way to the heart of Barigadu to do what is now impossible elsewhere: look up and gaze at the Milky Way.

Source: media.inaf.it