Every love story has an essential topos in the narrative: a prince who falls in love with a beautiful girl.
In the story of Sardinia, the protagonist is 26 years old Karim, who falls in love with an island at first sight and imagines an inspirational future. He could become the World’s first precursor of sustainable luxury tourism.
The birth of the Costa Smeralda, in 1962, was an event as sudden as it was decisive for the fate of an earthly paradise that too few people had had the privilege, until then, to know.
A vision, in fact, of a possible future for a portion of this millenary island that reveals itself to the World in all its pictorial power: the turquoise of the sea, the gold of the beaches, the pink of the granite, and the orange of the sky when the sun plunges into the horizon, leaving a blanket of stars to light up the nights.
After arriving in Cala di Volpe, John Duncan Miller, a representative of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, returned to London to make history by convincing a group of friends to invest in a tourism project that was a very first of its kind. These friends were Giuseppe Kerry Mentasti, Patrick Guinness, René Podbielski, and of course Karim, or rather Prince Shah Karīm al-Husaynī, Āgā Khān IV, known as Costa Smeralda founding father.
Sixty years since the establishment of the Costa Smeralda Consortium and Sardinia is one of the World’s most desired destinations.
Respect for the surrounding environment and indigenous nature has always been a guiding principle in the development and construction of the island. Villas and hotels have, in turn, been only entrusted to some of the World’s most prestigious architects: the result has been a harmony of simple shapes and soft colours, set in the greenery that still today perseveres.
The Costa Smeralda flourishes on its reputation. The beauty of Sardinia lies in a mixture and crossing of colors, vibes, perfumes of nature, quality of food, water and wine, culture, and historic signs. These are everywhere you look in this preserved natural environment where the human touch didn’t destroy the magnificence of nature. It is the playground for those who admire earthly beauty, celebrated in its most pristine form.
If at its birth the very concept of the Costa Smeralda was a revolution in the World of tourism, today this desire to stand out from the suffocating tourism that too often transforms terrestrial paradises into crowded entertainment venues remains unchanged. It is indeed why even during the pandemic, many have sought refuge and freedom in the Costa Smeralda.
What does the future hold for the Costa Smeralda?
Protecting and enhancing Costa Smeralda over the last six decades has delivered an unparalleled reputation with travelers from all over the World. For the past six decades, infrastructure, trade, environmental sustainability, and green control have been the cornerstones of the Consortium’s action. Today, supervision with innovative technologies, state-of-the-art fire-fighting service, and beach cleaning is the three primary objectives of the Consortium for 2022.
In celebratory fashion, Sardinia, immune to the passage of time, welcomes its arrivals to the diamond island with emerald waters.