The gateway to the Costa Smeralda — Sardinian pane carasau, myrtle liqueur, suckling pig, and the archipelago that defined Mediterranean luxury
Olbia is the main port and entry city of northern Sardinia — the gateway for the Costa Smeralda (Aga Khan's legendary 1960s luxury development on the Gallura coast) and the Maddalena Archipelago (one of the most beautiful island groups in the Mediterranean). The city itself is a working port of modest architectural ambition, but the surrounding territory is what matters: the Gallura region produces Vermentino di Gallura (a DOCG white wine — the only DOCG in Sardinia — with a saline, bitter-almond character that is the perfect companion to the local seafood), Cannonau (a powerful Grenache-base…
Olbia (Terranoa in Sardinian) was a Phoenician and Carthaginian trading post, then a Roman city (one of the first Roman ports in Sardinia). The city was sacked by the Vandals in 456 CE and was one of the defining events in Vandal history (the sack destroyed the Roman fleet commanded by a kinsman of the Emperor). Sardinia passed through Byzantine, then Arab, then Genoese and Pisan control before becoming part of the Spanish Crown in 1420, and remained under the House of Savoy from 1718 until Italian unification. The Costa Smeralda was a malarial, undeveloped stretch of Gallura coastline purcha…