The ancient city was chosen ahead of Bari after 17 cities and regions in Italy had initially expressed an interest in staging the sport.

It followed a process which has lasted 10 weeks since bidding was launched on October 7.

Following an assessment of all the cities and regions who responded, Cagliari and Bari was chosen as the shortlist at the end of November.

Both cities were inspected by Rome 2024 officials and weather data and environmental sustainability analysed, including comparing them to Marseille, Kiel and Long Beach, which had been chosen to host sailing by three of Rome's rivals, Paris, Hamburg and Los Angeles. 

Hamburg subsequently dropped out after local citizens rejected the bid in a referendum.

The local airports and plans for where the sailors and officials were also studied, along with the local infrastructure.

"Today the final choice of Cagliari, came after a thorough analysis," said Rome 2024 in a statement.

"They proved successful for the weather situation-marine with a greater intensity of wind and a great regularity."

At the moment, Cagliari will only host Olympic sailing as the sport has been axed from the Paralympics after Rio 2016, although officials have mounted a campaign to get it reinstated. 

Cagliari is known for its frequent winds, especially the mistral, a strong, cold, northwesterly wind that blows from southern France into the Gulf of Lion in the northern Mediterranean, and sirocco, a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara and which can sometimes reach hurricane speeds.

The final choice still has to be officially ratified by World Sailing.  

Cagliari, whose history dates back when Karalis was established around the seventh century BC as one of a string of Phoenician colonies in Sardinia, is nearly 600 kilometres away from Rome, although it only take 65 minutes to fly between the two cities. 

When British author DH Lawrence arrived in the 1920s, he compared the Sardinian capital to Jerusalem: "…strange and rather wonderful, not a bit like Italy."

Stadio Comunale Sant'Elia, home to the local Serie B Cagliari Calcio, hosted three matches during the FIFA World Cup in 1990, all involving England.

They drew 0-0 with the Republic of Ireland and 1-1 with The Netherlands before beating Egypt 1-0. 

On the only other occasion Rome has hosted the Summer Olympics, in 1960, they used the Gulf of Naples to stage the sailing venue.

The Italian Navy was responsible for the courses and the towing in and out of the yachts.

According to the official report this was done on a very prompt manner.

"The only accident to occur, which resulted in the loss of the Lebanese Flying Dutchman, cannot be imputed to the method employed by the rescue crew after the boat had overturned, but to the incompetence of the Lebanese F.D. crew who attached the tow cable around a belaying cleat fixed to the deck," said the official report. 

The regatta was most notable for Denmark's Paul Elvstrøm winning his fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal, this time in the Finn.