| Costa Smeralda and Porto Cervo |
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Porto Cervo, the first and most important settlement on the Costa Smeralda, was founded in 1962 by Prince Karim Aga Khan and a group of international financiers on the north-eastern part of the Sardinian coast in an area originally inhabited only by shepherds and farmers and till then simply known as the Mounts of Mola.
The Costa Smeralda stretches over about 5000 hectares between Cala Razza di Giunco north of the fjord of Cugnana, and the cove of Porto Quado (Poltu Cuadu) near the Gulf of Arzachena.
The built-up area gravitates around the famous "piazzetta delle Chiacchiere" and Sottopiazza and extends itself in an array of small streets, multicoloured windows and balconies along which arise a great number of high-fashion boutiques (Armani, Gucci, Fendi and Prada, just to quote some of them), jeweller’s shops, bars, restaurants, etc.
On the other hand the most fashionable nightclubs and prestigious restaurants are set in the "periferia" (“outskirts”), the real centre of the coast’s nightlife.
The entrance to the Marina is dominated by the small church of Stella Maris realized following a project of Busiri Vici. Different works of art may be admired inside the church, like the Mater Dolorosa attributed to El Greco, an organ from the 17th century and the massive bronze portal with bas-reliefs representing the theme of the Annunciation, realized by the Bolognese sculptor Luciano Minguzzi. |
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