Italy’s immigration police in Sardinia denied entry to five US citizens who attempted to enter the island aboard a private jet, enforcing Italy’s ban on tourism from the US amid the coronavirus surge across America.
According to local news outlets, a group of ten adults and children were stopped upon landing at Elmas airport in Cagliari on Wednesday morning.
They had flown by private plane from Colorado, despite Italy’s ongoing ban on most non-essential travel from outside the EU, Schengen Zone and UK.
“We were treated as if we were criminals, it’s not fair,” Federica Fanari, a passenger who hails from Sardinia but lives in Germany, told local news site Casteddu Online.
After several hours in the airport, she and her friends eventually got back on the plane at about 11:30pm and flew to the UK. Some reports said Italian authorities had offered to allow the non-Americans to enter Sardinia on the condition they quarantined for 14 days, but the group apparently opted to stay together.
It’s unclear why the group thought they would be allowed to enter Italy. While the EU has recommended reopening its external borders to a limited number of countries, the US has never been on the ‘safe list’ due to its high number of coronavirus infections.
Italian citizens and residents, as well as their immediate family members, are allowed to return from the US, but they must quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.
