On Italy’s Costa Smeralda, the megayachts are back

FRANCO BLOISI is puzzled. Mr Bloisi is the chef of Assunta Madre, a restaurant attached to Billionaire, a nightclub on the Costa Smeralda. With its turquoise waters and hidden coves, this region of north-eastern Sardinia has long been a summer playground for Arab potentates, Russian plutocrats and Silicon Valley tech czars. “We’ve got the stylish Italians this year,” says Mr Bloisi. But he has seen no trace of the super-rich foreigners. “Their yachts are here. But they’re not going out.”The absent billionaires are the talk of the Costa Smeralda. This is a land of endless villas and dry-stone walls draped with oleander, of five-star hotels with heart-stopping vistas and heart-stopping prices; a land of poodles, helipads, bespoke swimwear and bronzed middle-aged men in two-seater convertibles. More stylish than tacky, the Costa Smeralda gives its wealthiest holidaymakers, who in the Caribbean might worry about burglary or kidnapping, a reassuring degree of security—or did, until the advent of covid-19.