  We study light scalar mesons in the AdS/QCD soft-wall model with a background
dilaton field. The masses and decay constants are compatible with experiment
and QCD determinations if $a_0(980)$ and $f_0(980)$ are identified as the
lightest scalar mesons; moreover, the states are organized in linear Regge
trajectories with the same slope of vector mesons. Comparing the two-point
correlation function of scalar operators in AdS and QCD, information about the
condensates can be derived. Strong couplings of scalar states to pairs of light
pseudoscalar mesons turn out to be small, at odds with experiment and QCD
estimates: this discrepancy is related to the description of chiral symmetry
breaking in this model.
