Romazzino, A Belmond Hotel, Costa Smeralda

On the Costa Smeralda headland at Porto Cervo in northeastern Sardinia, Romazzino occupies one of the most coveted positions on a coast whose development under the Aga Khan’s leadership from the 1960s created one of the Mediterranean’s most exclusive resort destinations. The Belmond property’s 93 rooms and suites are housed in a low-rise pink-and-white building that references the architettura contadina of the Sardinian vernacular — the organic curved forms, the ochre and rose plaster finishes, and the bougainvillea-draped terraces that give the Costa Smeralda’s original resort architecture its distinctive Mediterranean character. The hotel’s private beach of the finest white sand and the clear turquoise water of the Costa Smeralda coast constitute the resort’s most essential assets.

The beach club, restaurant, and tennis programme provide the social and sporting infrastructure of a classic Mediterranean beach hotel, with the cuisine drawing on the Sardinian coastal tradition of lobster, sea urchin, and the rock fish preparations that the Costa Smeralda’s kitchen culture has refined over six decades of feeding the Mediterranean’s most demanding summer clientele. The spa draws on Sardinian marine and botanical ingredients. Porto Cervo’s marina, the most prestigious in the Mediterranean, brings a concentrated community of serious yachting to the immediate neighbourhood, and the hotel’s boat excursion programme explores the archipelago’s uninhabited islands and coves that are accessible only by sea.

Romazzino’s position within the Belmond collection gives it access to the group’s cultural and culinary programming resources, and its location on the Costa Smeralda’s most protected headland maintains the quality of the immediate marine environment through the responsible boating protocols that the property’s management coordinates with the Costa Smeralda Consortium.