Coastal inlet found in Cagliari area (3)
I believe the answer is:
ria
'coastal inlet' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'in cagliari area' is the wordplay.
'in' indicates the answer is hidden within the clue.
'RIA' can be found hidden inside 'cagliari area'.
'found' is the link.
(Other definitions for ria that I've seen before include "Long narrow inlet" , "inlet between hills" , "Air (anag.)" , "Little girl" , "Irish academy for sciences and humanities, in short" .)