Sardinia governor proposes that visitors to island should be required to show vaccine certificate.

"Whoever enters Sardinia will have to present a certificate showing they have test negative [for covid-19] or that they have been vaccinated," said the island region's president Christian Solinas.

"The system of checks will start well before the start of the summer season," said Solinas who had attempted to introduce mandatory testing for visitors last summer but was overruled by central government.

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The island's "epidemiological situation is improving" - Solinas told daily newspaper L'Unione Sarda - "but at the same time we must defend ourselves in every way from the worrying covid variants and the possibility that they might enter our home."

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The proposal by the governor comes amid concerns that Sardinia could see a repeat of what happened last summer, with the rapid transition of the island from an almost covid-free zone to a coronavirus hotspot due to the unchecked arrival of tourists especially in Costa Smeralda.

That would be a scenario that Sardinia - whose economy revolves around tourism - could ill afford.

Sardinia, Italy's second-largest island after Sicily, is currently classified as a lower-risk 'yellow zone' under the nation's coronavirus restrictions.

Photo credit: Tore65 / Shutterstock.com.