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Given Costa Smeralda’s golden, sandy beaches, it’s perhaps only fair that this part of north-east Sardinia’s coast in Italy can thank the Middle-East for its popularity as a holiday mecca.
It was struggling agricultural land when the 20-year-old Aga Khan IV, leader of 15 million Ismaili Moslems around the world, came here in the late 50s and took a punt on investment property in Italy
At the time there weren’t many too many takers for real estate and houses for sale in Sardinia. How times change.
By 1961 he and a group of financiers had set up a consortium to buy large swathes of land in Sardinia’s stunning north-east coast. They fittingly decided to name this 55km stretch of spectacular coasts and clear blue waters Costa Smeralda (Emerald Coast). Three years later his dream was turning to reality as the first hotels sprung up, introducing mass tourism to Sardinia.
That year Alisarda, the airline he set up in 1963, flew 186 passengers to Costa Smeralda. By 1968 that had grown to 20,000. These days that probably goes down as a quiet month, especially in high season.
Many are drawn here by Costa Smeralda’s beautiful bays and coves, which make for some of the best beaches and swimming in the Mediterranean. But there is also the thrill of rubbing shoulders with the jetset, as Costa Smeralda has become something of a millionaires’ playground.
Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed spent their last summer together here in 1997, on a private beach owned by the five-star Cala di Volpe Hotel outside Porto Cervo. Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi owns no fewer than seven holiday villas on Costa Smeralda, one a 27-bedroom property near Porto Rotondo.
Other famous faces? Take your pick from motor-racing boss Flavio Briatore, football mogul Roman Abramovich, Tom Cruise, Elizabeth Hurley, Rod Stewart, Bill Gates, Madonna, Julia Roberts and Leonardo DiCaprio.
If that floats your boat or your yacht, this being Costa Smeralda do what the paparazzi do and head here in June and July. Otherwise wait until September when the weather is cooler as is the competition for restaurant tables.
Property for sale in Sardinia
Buying property in Costa Smeralda, Sardinia’s most scenic stretch of shoreline, can seem a little on the pricy side. If you’re looking at homes, houses, apartments, holiday villas for investment or rental villas in Sardinia you will be hard-pressed to find much below €400,000 for say, a two-bedroom apartment. And if you have the money to spare, it’s easy to find yourself with not much change from €20million.
But there are bargains to be had if you look a little farther afield. For instance near Palau, one can buy a new-build sea-view apartment for just €110,000. In addition, the strict planning laws on construction near the sea help to maintain prices of coastal properties in Sardinia and therefore the value of your investment.
But Costa Smeralda’s attractions run far beyond a chance to look at homes for sale in Sardinia and gawp at the rich and famous. With its dense woods overlooking its exquisite beaches and crystal clear waters, it is easy to see what caught the Aga Khan’s eye all those decades ago.
Instead of plumping for affluent Porto Cervo, the area’s main town, or Porto Rotondo, far better to set up base in the coastal resort of Cala Gonone and set out daily from there. Be sure to visit the Grotta del Bue Marinom, a boat ride away, where you can gaze in awe at its stalagmites and lakes.
Virtually all of Costa Smeralda’s beaches are open to the public. Liscia Ruja is one of the most renowned, but others are just as beautiful, such as Cappriccioli, Rena Bianca and Cala Pietra Bianca.
These beaches, all south of Porto Cervo, keep away hordes of bathers thanks to a complete absence of signposts, with those in the know simply following the dirt tracks for the sea.
To get a truly splendid view, head for Monte Mora, the grandest of the granite peaks that peer down on the Costa Smeralda. From the top you can gaze at the isles of Tavolara and nearby Caprera, where 19th century Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi spent the final 25 years of his life.
It was this kind of natural beauty that the Aga Khan was so keen to preserve in the 1960s that he set down strict laws on development. There are curbs on what materials can be used to construct houses, homes, apartments and villas; property in Costa Smeralda has to be in harmony with the environment.
In addition, all power and water cables had to be underground, billboard advertising was frowned upon and the introduction of foreign flora and fauna was forbidden. That may have seemed draconian but the legacy of that foresight lives on in the splendour of Porto Cervo, Porto Rotondo and other towns .
Porto Rotondo lies some 15km from Olbia airport and as name implies, is a round port. The marina is full of yachts of all shapes and sizes and is overlooked by villas in a kaleidoscope of pretty pastel colours. The town revolves around the marina and in particular, Piazza San Marco in the centre, with its high-end boutiques, bars, restaurants and nightclubs.
Porto Cervo, a few kilometres to the north, is Costa Smeralda’s principal resort. Again, the piazza is its heart. Porto Cervo is almost antiseptically clean and crime-free and features lines of pastel-coloured houses rising up the hill away from the marina.
In 2007, Sardinia’s governor Renato Soru introduced luxury taxes ostensibly aimed at curbing the growing number of second villas and yachts owned by the wealthy, which he believes are ruining Sardinias natural beauty. Handily, they could also generate some €640million in revenue.
Many of the super-rich who own homes in Sardinia believe they are being unfairly targeted. Mr Briatore vainly launched a campaign against the plan with a party at the club he owns,
ironically called The Billionaire.
How to get there
There are direct flights from Gatwick and Manchester to Olbia. Hire a car; Porto Rotondo is 19 km and Porto Cervo 37 km away.
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