Smerelda. Rolls off the tongue. The Emerald Coast of Sardinia is so named because of the sparkling blues, greens, emeralds - smeralda - of the sea off the rugged north east of the Italian island. Before the 1960s it was a sparsely populated area, relatively unknown outside its few farming inhabitants. The tale goes that the Aga Khan was passing nearby in his yacht, like you do, and thought: this'll do nicely. Very nicely indeed, for it is a physically beautiful and secluded area with a good climate and gorgeous coves.
He made generous offers to the locals for the land - apparently, the tale continues, the farmers responded by saying he'd offered too much for what was basically useless land. The Aga Khan and a number of other investors - the Costa Smeralda consortium - developing the 12,000 hectares of wild, rocky coastline between the mountains and clear sea, strictly vetting the styles and scale of the development. They built a number of luxury villas as holiday homes, and, initially in order to put up potential buyers, built a small number of hotels in the area - the Patrizzia, Romazzina, the Cervo in what became the "town" of Puerto Cervo (a cool place to hang out, but in some respects a peculiarly soulless shopping centre of exclusive designer shops) and the Cala di Volpe (home of the fox; we saw no foxes but one of the party had to have a snake - non-poisonous! - removed from the bedroom one morning).
So that is how this particular retreat of the rich came into being. All this took place in the early 1960s; today the Costa Smeralda is one of tightly controlled development of discreet luxury and pleasure, competing with resorts such as Capri or the Cote d'Azur, where the hoi polloi of the other costas would be neither at home nor welcome, one suspects. The hotels - all but one five star deluxe (the Cervo is merely five star!) - are now owned by the international Starwood group (which also owns the Luxury Collection, and which bought out the Sheraton, which had taken over Ciga, the original Aga Khan company).
These days the hotels are frequented, chiefly in July and August, by the famous - rock stars, actors, sports superstars, top businesspeople - and the more discreetly rich. The regulars request the same room or suite year after year (one couple has a standing reservation, into infinity, for the same suite in the Romazina, for the months of June and September); the regular guests know the staff; the paparazzi are forbidden. Diana and Dodi moored the yacht at the Cala, from where they took a car to the airport and flew to Paris on the day they died. The scene was filmed at the Cala, where James Bond emerged from the sea onto a pier, thence to the love interest's bedroom, in some 007 caper, - the "bedroom" off the wooden pier is in fact the piano bar. On an even tackier note, the manager of the Romazzino told me how the Blind Date crew came to film one of its "couples" on holiday - they had to film the "arrival" towards the end of their stay because of the weather, and we got the clear impression that the two were barely talking to each other by then. So much for romance.
So, a few days - at the beginning of the season - in the luxury and rustic chic of the Cala di Volpe. The room is simple and classy - rough white walls, locally crafted furniture, trompe d'oeil on the wardrobes and occasionally on the walls; my view is of the curved pool and barbecue area, with the marina just beside it. The hotel sits on a bay which seems partially hollowed out of the surrounding mountainside, and looks like a series of turrets and buildings in faded terracotta - approaching it from the sea it looks more like a small village or monastic settlement, with ne'er a tacky commercial sign to signal its hotel status. It was designed by architect Jacques Coutelle and is full of arches and alleys, with lots of glass, overlooking the view of the bay, occasional large mosaics of rough-cut coloured glass, and furnished in bright, clean colours. In the high season it is a place to see and, more importantly, be seen.
From this base, if you don't have your own yacht you can hire a large power boat and skipper (daily rate about £700-£1,000, for up to 10 people) to bask in the sun on board, or sail to a private cove of rock and sand and turquoise sea; or you could jetski. There's the nearby Cervo tennis club (adjacent to the Cervo Hotel) with two pools and beauty treatments as well as a good conference centre. Or there's the undulating Pevero golf course, in a physically beautiful setting - from one of the holes you can see the sea whether you look right or left, and from another there are views of Corsica. And of course there's always shopping and eating.
And the eating - splendid buffets of antipasti, seafood and salads; a lunchtime barbecue where you choose what you want from a huge array of meats and seafood and they cook to order, then serve with attention to detail - just glance towards the water (or wine!) and a waiter is pouring it instantly.
I stayed at the the Cala; the other hotels have their own characters - if there are children, the Romazzino, on a hill overlooking the sea and its private beach, has minders and a programme of activities, amid similar luxury and fine food. The Cervo is a more happening place - for cool folk who want to watch from their balcony as the cafes and sidewalks throb. The Patrizzia is the most luxurious, and perfect for couples-in-love, as it's the most private - the roofs of each of the terraced rooms (with separate entrances) are covered with grass, so no one overlooks anyone's terrace, and each view is of undulating green and the blue-blue-blue of the sea; the pool, too, seems to blend with the sea, with water rolling off to the side over a submerged edge. A dine-around arrangement means that full-board guests can dine at any of the other hotels and a number of restaurants on the Costa - in peak season there's a choice of 14 places to eat. We dined late and could have partied the night away at one of the nightclubs.
Costa Smerelda is not the "real" Sardinia. If that's what you're looking for, this is not where you go; an enclave of understated, worry-free luxury in a physically beautiful place.
Getting There
Meridiana (phone 0044 207 839 3333) flies from Gatwick to Sardinia's Olbia airport, just south of the Costa Smeralda, three times a week until the end of September (once a week during October). Prices are from £219 sterling upwards.
The Cervo Hotel is open year-round; the others from March/April until September. Of course you pay for the excellent service, and for the exclusivity and familiarity, of the hotels on the Costa Smeralda. If you need to ask you can't afford it (beer is about a tenner, a coffee ranges from £4 to £6, and a club sandwich - though why would you want one in Italy? - costs a whopping 33,000 lire - about £15). You can book bed and breakfast, but full board (dine around) is a better bet. At the Cala di Volpe full board, per person per night, ranges from about £172 in the low season, to £447 in July/August. At the Cervo it ranges from £100 to £272, at the Romazzino £240 to £435, the Patrizza £280 to £480. There are also golfing and other packages early in the season. Details, www.starwood.com or Starwood Hotels, 07020 Porto Cervo, Sardegna, Italia, tel: 0039 0789 939410, fax 0039 0789 939419, e-mail: costasmeralda.sales@sheraton.com