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ABSTRACT
The 1960s in Italy saw an explosion in mass tourism but also the development of contested forms of luxury tourism. This article deals with the building of one of the most iconic luxury resorts of the era, the Costa Smeralda on the island of Sardinia, and with the political controversies it raised. Within a few years, the resort put Sardinia on the map of world tourism, drawing the attention of conservationists, who chose it as a symbol of environmental and cultural degradation. In the early 1970s the Aga Kahn, the resort’s main promoter, sued some of the conservationists for defamation. The resulting trials, which the Aga Kahn won, became a venue in which the myths of the developers and those of the conservationists clashed in front of witnesses and judges. The trial’s records revealed the compromises and negotiations on which luxury tourism is founded, but such demythologisation benefited the developers, at least in the short run. The Costa Smeralda remained an iconic brand and a contested symbol, but above all it spurred a transition from large-scale manufacturing to tourism as Sardinia’s main economic vocation.
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Notes
1 The literature on place branding is extensive. An entire international journal is devoted to it from the perspective of marketing and communication studies: Place Branding and Public Diplomacy. A collection I have found particularly useful is Ulrich Ermann and Klaus-Jürgen Hermanik, eds., Branding the Nation, the Place, the Product (London: Routledge, 2017). For some historical case-studies, see Maria C. Puche-Ruiz, ‘Flamboyance and wit. The promotion of film-induced tourism and Andalusian-inspired “brand Spain” under the Ministry of Information and Tourism (1953–1959)’, Journal of Tourism History 14 (2022): 167–201 and Taso G. Lagos et al., ‘Narrating Hellas: Tourism, News Publicity and the Refugee Crisis’s Impact on Greece’s “Nation-Brand”’, Journal of Tourism History, 12 (2020): 275–97.
2 Douglas Holt, How Brands Become Iconic: The Principles of Cultural Branding (Cambridge MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2004). Holt argues that ‘iconic brands provide extraordinary identity value because they address the collective anxieties and desires of a nation’ and do so by performing identity myths (6–8).
3 For the symbolic construction of place-based conflict in the Italian context, see Donatella Della Porta and Gianni Piazza, Voices of the Valley, Voices of the Straits: How Protest Creates Community (New York: Berghahn, 2008), 57–77.
4 For a biography, see Willi Frishauer, The Aga Khans (London: Bodley Head, 1970).
5 For an overview of the Italian environmental movement in English, see Mario Diani, Green Networks: A Structural Analysis of the Italian Environmental Movement (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995). For an introduction to Italy’s modern environmental history, see Gabriella Corona, A Short Environmental History of Italy (Winwick: The White Horse Press, 2017) and Simone Neri Serneri, Incorporare la Natura: Storie Ambientali del Novecento (Rome: Carocci, 2005).
6 Christopher Berry, The Idea of Luxury. A Conceptual and Historical Investigation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994): 7–9.
7 The expression ‘cathedral in the desert’ was coined by Christian Democratic politician Luigi Sturzo in the late 1950s. For a critical look at investment policy in the Italian South, see Carlo Trigilia, Sviluppo Senza Autonomia. Effetti Perversi delle Politiche nel Mezzogiorno (Bologna: Il Mulino, 1992). In English, see Salvatore Adorno, ‘Petrochemical modernity in Sicily,’ in Nature and History in Modern Italy, eds. Marco Armiero and Marcus Hall (Columbus: Ohio University Press, 2011), 180–94.
8 For the history of tourism in modern Italy, see Stephanie Malia Hom, The Beautiful Country: Tourism and the Impossible State of Destination Italy (Toronto: Toronto University Press, 2015). In Italian, see Patrizia Battilani, Vacanze di Pochi, Vacanze di Tutti (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2009).
9 Data from Fabrizio Giovenale, Il Turismo e le Coste Italiane (Milan: Giuffré, 1975). For the Adriatic coast, see Patrizia Battilani and Francesca Fauri, ‘The rise of a service-based economy and its transformation: Seaside tourism and the case of Rimini’, Journal of Tourism History 1 (2009), 27–47.
10 ‘Approdi Turistici e crisi economica,’ Bollettino di Italia Nostra 120 (1974), 16–21.
11 Bernardo Rossi-Doria, ‘Le coste del Mediterraneo’, Bollettino di Italia Nostra 100 (1972), 75.
12 For the classic text on Gramsci’s interpretation of Italy’s dualistic development in English, see Antonio Gramsci, The Southern Question (New York: Bordighera Press, 1995).
13 Ilario Principe, ‘Storia, ambiente e società nell’organizzazione del territorio in Sardegna’, in Storia d’Italia. Annali. Vol. 8. Insediamenti e Territorio. ed. Cesare Da Seta (Turin: Einaudi, 1985), 570.
14 P. Paolinelli and G. Salierno, La Carcassa del Tempo. Inchiesta sulla Costa Smeralda (Rome: Antonio Pellicani, 1988), 30–31.
15 While Sardinia experienced pirate raids until the end of the sixteenth century, the notion that incursions and pillaging were the predominant, if not sole, forms of interaction between the island and the Islamic world is a nineteenth-century myth that contemporary historians have successfully challenged. See Corrado Zedda, ‘A revision of Sardinian history between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries,’ in A Companion to Sardinian History, 500–1500. ed. Michelle Hobart (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 115–40.
16 Marcus Hall, however, notes that “Italy’s own [prewar] disease control programs – which involved medication, drainage, and non-DDT pesticides – had cut malaria mortality in Sardinia by 90 percent.” See M. Hall, ‘Environmental imperialism in Sardinia: Pesticides and politics in the struggle against malaria’ in Nature and History in Modern Italy. eds. M. Armiero and M. Hall, 73.
17 On how the foreign press began to cover Sardinia after WWII, see Giacomino Zirottu, La Sardegna e il Vasto Mondo (Nuoro: Videomemory, 1997).
18 Camille Cianfarra, ‘Sardinia believes itself forgotten,’ New York Times, March 27, 1951, 13.
19 Salvatore Pirastu, Agli Albori della Rinascita. Dal Congresso del Popolo Sardo alle Leggi del Piano (1950-1962) (Cagliari: Tema, 2004), 100.
20 Sandro Ruju, ‘Societa’, economia, politica dal secondo dopoguerra a oggi (1944-98)’ in Storia d’Italia. Le Regioni dall’Unita’ a Oggi. La Sardegna. eds. Luigi Berlinguer and Antonello Mattone (Turin: Einaudi, 1998), 775–992.
21 Ilario Principe, ‘Storia, ambiente e società nell’organizzazione del territorio in Sardegna,’ 561–625.
22 To mention some of the ‘poles of development’ built between the late 1950s to the early 1970s by northern Italian industrial capital, in 1959 Nino Rovelli of SIR began construction for a chemical plant at Porto Torres; Angelo Moratti established SARAS, a huge refinery near Cagliari; Rumianca located a petrochemical plant with Esso patents nearby; in 1961 the Timavo group located a huge paper mill at Arbatax; Snia built a large textile plant at Villacidro. See S. Roju, ‘Societa’, economia, politica dal secondo dopoguerra a oggi,’ 849–57.
23 For an overview, see Gian Adolfo Solinas, Un’Isola di Vacanze: Per una Storia Critica del Turismo in Sardegna (Sassari: Editrice Democratica Sarda, 1997).
24 A. S. Mossa, Considerazioni sul turismo in Sardegna, available at https://www.nurnet.net/blog/considerazioni-sul-turismo-in-sardegna-di-antonio-simon-mossa/
25 Consorzio Costa Smeralda, ‘Il 14 luglio di 50 anni fa ci lasciava Antonio Simon Mossa,’ https://www.facebook.com/consorziocostasmeralda/photos/a.1967282770199340/2796962930564649/?type = 3
26 Martino Branca, Giorgio Ciucci, and Italo Insolera, Contributi alla Conservazione del Paesaggio Costiero: Il Comprensorio della Gallura. Relazione (Rome: Italia Nostra, 1964), 13.
27 In English, see Patrizia Battilani, ‘Rimini and Costa Smeralda: How Social Values Shape Recreational Sites,’ in Water, Leisure, and Culture. European Historical Perspectives. ed. Susan Anderson and Bruce Tabb, Oxford: Berg, 2002: 209–21.
28 This narrative is largely based on Citta’ Sotto Accusa: Arzachena (Rome: Italia Nostra, 1973). Many of these details are confirmed in the resort’s promotional literature. See ‘The History of Costa Smeralda,’ https://www.realestate-costasmeralda.com/en/the-history.
29 B. Bandinu, Costa Smeralda. Come Nasce una Favola Turistica (Milan: Rizzoli, 1980), 23.
30 Robert Deardorff, ‘New resort on Sardinia’s Emerald Coast,’ New York Times, August 18, 1963, 389
31 Gloria Braggiotti Etting, ‘Sardinia,’ Town and Country (117, November 1963), 99.
32 Geoffrey Bocca, ‘The Emerald Coast,’ The Sun, September 5, 1965, M4.
33 Serena Sinclair, ‘Sardinia “discovered.” Aga Kahn Started it. Just a look, no straight lines,’ Christian Science Monitor, January 12, 1965, 6.
34 The resort’s website still celebrates the movie segment, albeit with the caveat that ‘being exclusive is one thing; being classist quite another.’ ‘Alberto Sordi. Cent’anni di mito con tappa in Costa Smeralda,’ https://www.costasmeralda.it/alberto-sordi-la-coppia-costa-smeralda-hotel-romazzino/
35 ‘Prince Karim Aga Kahn. A rare portrait of an intent young ruler,’ Sports Illustrated, August 10, 1964, 63, https://vault.si.com/vault/1964/08/10/prince-karim-aga-khan.
36 These changes were documented in the late 1970s by an American geographer who toured the island on his camper van: Richard Price, Una Geografia del Turismo: Paesaggio e Insediamenti Umani sulle Coste della Sardegna (Cagliari: Formez, 1983).
37 Angelo de Murtas, ‘Speculazione in Sardegna,’ Bollettino di Italia Nostra 27 (1962), 6–8
38 M. Branca, G. Ciucci, and I. Insolera, Contributi alla Conservazione del Paesaggio Costiero.
39 Città Sotto Accusa: Arzachena, 12–20.
40 A. Cederna, ‘Come sarà distrutta la Sardegna,’ Corriere della Sera, July 16, 1970, and ‘”Soluzione finale” in programma per le coste sarde,’ Corriere della Sera, July 19, 1970. On Cederna, see Bruno Bonomo, ‘“The Vandals at home”: Antonio Cederna’s Denounciation of the Devastation of Italian Cities in the Postwar Period’, Journal of Modern Italian Studies 21 (2016), 764–88.
41 ‘The new Saracens in Sardinia’ was the title of a chapter of Cederna, La Distruzione della Natura in Italia (Turin, Einaudi) 1975.
42 These were vani, which in Italian bureaucratic parlance means a space of any size surrounded by walls.
43 Mario Scialoja, ‘Che scandalo, c’è ancora un pineta!’ L’Espresso, February 6, 1972.
44 Data from two promotional pamphlets by the Consortium dating to the early 1970s found in Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Fondo Italia Nostra (ACS-IN hereafter), Box 353 Processo Aga Khan 1970–75.
45 The prince sued Cederna and Bassani in March 1972. The copy of the suit is included in ACS-IN, Box 353 Processo Aga Khan 1970-75.
46 Toni Addis, ‘Ottomila ville per turisti-super,’ Paese Sera, November 8, 1971.
47 Legal suit to the Procura di Roma against Karim by photojournalist Attilio Porcari, included in ACS-IN, Box 353 Processo Aga Khan 1970-75.
48 All the depositions by local actors were favorable to the Aga Kahn. See ACS-IN, Box 353 Processo Aga Khan 1970–75.
49 Patrizia Battilani, ‘Rimini and Costa Smeralda.’
50 Bassani’s deposition at the trial in March 1974, ACS-IN, Box 353 Processo Aga Khan 1970–75.
51 See exchange of letters between Cederna, Bassani, their lawyer Dall’Ora, and Rossi-Doria in May 1974, ACS-IN, Box 353 Processo Aga Khan 1970–75.
52 ‘L’adesione di Bocca alla campagna contro la Costa Smeralda procura al giornalista una condanna di 6 mesi,’ Sassari Sera, November 15, 1974.
53 On Carità’s professional trajectory, see Gigi Ghirotti, ‘Sardegna in vendita,’ La Stampa, August 21, 1970. Several of his writings are included in the trial records assembled by Italia Nostra.
54 The local newspaper, Sassari Sera, was especially vocal in denouncing Italia Nostra’s alleged hypocrisy. See also the report by private news agency Teleagenzia Montecitorio on April 12, 1973 titled ‘Sullo “scempio” delle coste di Sardegna “Italia Nostra” si difende ma non convince,’ included in ACS-IN, Box 353 Processo Aga Khan 1970–75.
55 The new lawyer, Gaetano Pecorella, summarised the sentence motivations on July 31, 1975, ACS-IN, Box 353 Processo Aga Khan 1970–75.
57 The impact of the Costa Smeralda settlement on the island’s economy was already clear by the early 1980s. See Roberto Camagni, ‘L’impatto sull’economia sarda della spesa e dell’investimento turistico in Costa Smeralda’, Quaderni Sardi di Economia 4 (1982), 371–403.
58 Manlio Brigaglia and Guido Melis, ‘La Sardegna Autonomistica (1948-1995),’ in Storia della Sardegna. ed. Manlio Brigaglia (Cagliari: Soter, 1995), 302 and 310.
59 P. Clemente, ‘“Un’isola nell’isola:” Un bricolage antropologico con pezzi di Costa Smeralda,’ in La Sardegna Contemporanea. eds. L. Marrocu, F. Bachis, and V. Deplano (Rome: Donzelli, 2015), 166.
60 Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Lorenzo Tondo, ‘Close friend of Trump investigated over alleged €170m tax evasion,’ The Guardian, 29 May 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/29/close-friend-trump-thomas-barrack-alleged-tax-evasion-italy-sardinia
61 Tom Kington, ‘Sardinia to clean up Aga Khan’s paradise,’ The Guardian, 15 August 2007, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/aug/15/italy.travel
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Dario Gaggio
Dario Gaggio is professor in the history department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He was born and raised in Florence, Italy, and holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. He is the author of In Gold We Trust: Social Capital and Economic Change in the Italian Jewellry Towns (Princeton University Press, 2007), and of The Shaping of Tuscany: Landscape and Society between Tradition and Modernity (Cambridge University Press, 2017).