Region

Sardinia

Granite coves and an impossible sea: the wild, ancient island of the Tyrrhenian.

Best time: May to June, September
Fly into: Cagliari (CAG), Olbia (OLB) or Alghero (AHO)

The region

An Island Apart

Sardinia is Italy at its most elemental, a mountainous island older than the mainland itself, ringed by white-sand coves and water that shifts from jade to deep sapphire. Inland it is another country entirely: granite peaks, Bronze Age nuraghi and shepherds' villages where an ancient language still holds.

Our estates gather along the Costa Smeralda and the quieter shores beyond it: low villas of stone and juniper set above private coves, reached by a discreet track or a tender from the bay. The pace is unhurried, the cuisine built on the sea, the myrtle and the flocks of the interior.

Places worth knowing

Costa Smeralda
The emerald coast, a string of sheltered coves and yacht-lined marinas from Porto Cervo south.
La Maddalena
An archipelago of granite islets and pink-sand beaches, protected as a national park.
Costa Rei
Kilometres of pale sand and shallow turquoise water along the island's quiet south-east.

The houses