Inland from the sparkling shores and spangling yachts of northern Sardinia’s glitzy Emerald Coast are mountains fragrant with wild herbs and kitchens serving deep-fried cheese ravioli and succulent suckling pig
The sky is a bleached-denim blue, the sun as dazzling as a playboy’s medallion as we flip-flop along the jetty to our boat. The Relais Villa del Golfo’s luxury sailing yacht, along with its chino-clad captain, is ours for the day – so far, so chi-chi.
The north coast of Sardinia is famously flashy. This is not the low-key luxury of private hideaway-peppered Italian islands such as Pantelleria and Panarea. Ever since the Aga Khan spotted the potential of this wild, untrammelled stretch of coastline from his yacht in the late 1950s, and went on a monumental building spree, bling has been king. Among its rocky coves, sugary sand and languorous seas Prince Karim Aga Khan IV created an exclusive playground and renamed this jewel-like enclave the Costa Smeralda, or Emerald Coast.
Its hub, Porto Cervo, a pseudo terracotta-trimmed fishing village, is a kind of Sardinian Bicester-on-Sea. Pedestrianised streets form a necklace strung with wallet-draining restaurants and designer boutiques – Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada – while its marina is packed like sardines in a tin with gaudy super-yachts. Princess Margaret, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot and Peter Sellers once partied here. Today, you might still glimpse Hollywood A-listers, icons of Formula One, ageing rock stars and a Russian oligarch or two.
The Costa Smeralda slinks seductively along the shore for a mere 34 miles, however. Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily. Dip inland, or wind your way further around the coast, and you’ll find another, more authentic, side to the island. In the region of Gallura, around Arzachena, a sprawling archaeological park is littered with Neolithic remains and Bronze-Age Nuragic settlements.
この記事は Olive の February 2018 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Olive の February 2018 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
kitchen therapy with Rosie Birkett
Give salad the Jersey Royal treatment with Rosie's rustic new potato platter
PUB MENU The Barley Mow
Put aside some quality time at the weekend to recreate this relaxed Anglo-French pub menu from a newly restored Mayfair landmark
BOLTHOLE Fort Road Hotel, Margate
Kentish ingredients, local artists and extra touches of hospitality give this distinctive seafront hotel the perfect combination of contemporary style and seaside nostalgia
COOK LIKE A LOCAL South Korea
Su Scott introduces the deep, complex flavours of this East Asian country
READY? SET MENU? GO!
Delegate decision making to the experts - say feed me, thrill me. Rather than poring over menus, opting for a great-value set menu or a blow-out tasting experience allows you to kick back and relax, confident that incredible food will follow
Speedboat Bar SIGNATURE DISH
Whip up a spicy chillispiked dish and zingy ginger cocktail from Thai canteen Speedboat Bar in London's Chinatown
Coronation chicken cups
Give this gorgeously creamy filling the canapé treatment - perfect for easy entertaining
3 WAYS WITH Pickles
Whether it's cornichons, onions, beetroots or dill pickles, you can do so much more than you might think with these vinegary beauties
Keep it sweet
Show-off desserts to end your meal with a flourish, from food writer Claire Saffitz
Cook with the season
That sweet spot between spring and summer brings with it some of the very best produce
