Fifteen Sardinian restaurants will park phones and hand families a game kit

Fifteen restaurants in Sardinia are trying a month without phones at family tables. The Guardian reported on October 27, 2026, that the pilot, A tavola senza schermi, or "at the table without screens," begins the following week. Parents and children at those restaurants will be asked to put devices away. Staff then hand over a "reunion kit" of games and drawings, designed with the Italian federation of paediatricians, meant to start a conversation such as what happened that day. A brochure in the kit covers the risks of too much screen time and tips for home.

Anna Cau, the island's children's ombudsman and a former juvenile magistrate, said the point is not to leave the whole job to parents or to rely only on a ban. She wants ordinary places, including a lunch out, to make it easier for adults and children to be with each other. The games are built to fit the length of a restaurant meal. Emanuele Frongia, president of the Sardinian branch of the catering federation Fipe-Confcommercio, said the 15 restaurants agreed readily and that the hope is to grow the idea on a voluntary basis. He described a familiar scene the project is answering: chatter replaced by silence, and a phone handed to a child to keep them quiet. The trial is those 15 tables for one month. It is not a law for every restaurant on the island.