Italians are about to get a straight shot to the Dominican capital. ITA Airways will launch a direct Rome–Santo Domingo route on 30 November 2026, a move Italy's ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Sergio Maffettone, says should deepen both tourism and business ties between the two countries.

The new service doesn't appear out of nowhere. Italy and the Dominican Republic are already well connected — Italian carriers and routes serve the resort hubs of Punta Cana and La Romana, plus Milan links — but Santo Domingo itself has lacked a direct Rome connection. Adding the capital opens up the country's less resort-centric side: the Colonial City's UNESCO-listed old town, the nearby beaches of Boca Chica and Juan Dolio, and the eastern coast around Bayahibe and La Romana.

The numbers explain the enthusiasm. Roughly 100,000 Italians holiday in the Dominican Republic each year, and the ambassador expects that figure to climb, helped by Dominican tourism campaigns running on Italian television. On the business side, Dominican companies including the Puntacana Group and Inicia Group have been taking part in meetings in Rome, so the route will carry dealmakers as well as sunseekers.

There's a practical improvement for visitors too. At an event tied to the announcement, Casa de Italia-backed scholarships were unveiled to train 20 Tourist Police (Politur) officers in Italian. Those officers work in the Colonial City, Boca Chica, Juan Dolio, Bayahibe and La Romana — exactly the places Italian travellers concentrate — and speaking the language should make everything from lost passports to directions far easier to handle on the ground.

Why it matters for travellers: from late 2026, Italians can reach the Dominican Republic without connecting through another European hub or limiting themselves to the Punta Cana resort corridor. For everyone else, it's a signal that Santo Domingo is being positioned as a destination in its own right — a city break worth pairing with Caribbean beach time, with a more tourism-focused police presence to smooth the way. Anyone who has dismissed the DR as all-inclusive-only may find the capital's colonial streets, rooftop bars and museums a reason to look again.

Dominican Today