Built from nothing by the Aga Khan in the 1960s, the Costa Smeralda is a fifty-kilometre stretch of Sardinia’s north-east coast with the clearest water in the Mediterranean, the most expensive marina in Italy and villas hidden in the granite. August in Porto Cervo is the yacht season’s finale.
Stay
- Hotel Cala di Volpe
- Hotel Pitrizza and Hotel Romazzino
- Petra Segreta Resort
- 7Pines Resort, Baja Sardinia
Do
- A day on a boat to the Maddalena archipelago
- The Piazzetta of Porto Cervo at aperitivo hour
- Lunch at the Cala di Volpe pool or at Phi Beach
- The Rolex sailing regattas in September
- The Costa Smeralda Golf Club at Pevero
Gavalia’s rules
- The season is short: June and September are perfect, July and August are the scene.
- Olbia airport is twenty minutes away; the marina at Porto Cervo takes yachts to 100 metres and fills in August.
- Property is almost entirely off-market; the Costa Smeralda Consortium’s planning rules keep the coast low and the supply fixed.
Porto Cervo
The village the Aga Khan built is still the centre: the Piazzetta, the marina, the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, the boutiques of every house open for ten weeks a year. The Hotel Cala di Volpe, designed by Jacques Couëlle to look like a fishing village, is the most beautiful resort in the Mediterranean and prices its August rooms accordingly.
The water
The coast is the point: Cala di Volpe, the beaches of Romazzino and Liscia Ruja, the Maddalena islands an hour by boat, water the colour of the name. A tender to a beach club for lunch and a swim off the boat in the afternoon is the day, every day.
Property
The Consortium’s planning rules, set in 1962, limit height, density and style, which is why the coast still looks as it does and why property is scarce. Villas trade among families and through a handful of agents, at prices that rival the French Riviera.
The property market
Villas in Porto Cervo, Romazzino, Pevero and Cala di Volpe trade at 15,000 to 30,000 euros per square metre with waterfront estates from 20 million euros; the market is small, seasonal and dominated by Italian and international families.
Try it yourself
Villa Cost CalculatorPurchase price and country: taxes, fees, annual running costs and the ten-year total, with rental income if you let it.Destination MatcherMonth, mood and budget: the three countries or regions that fit, with the season and the hotels.Questions people ask
When is the season on the Costa Smeralda?
June to September, with the yacht and social season peaking in August and the sailing regattas in September.
How much is a villa in Porto Cervo?
From about 5 million euros for a villa in the hills to 20 to 60 million for waterfront estates in Romazzino, Pevero and Cala di Volpe.
How do I get to the Costa Smeralda?
Fly to Olbia, twenty minutes away, or arrive by yacht at Porto Cervo or Porto Rotondo.
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