
By Irina Pushkova
Costa Smeralda translated from Italian means the Emerald Coast. This combination of words very accurately conveys the predominant color of the sea in the northern part of Sardinia. In the early 1950's Costa Smeralda, formerly known as Monti di Mola, was a wild coast of the north-eastern Sardinia with deserted beaches, fine white sand and granite rocks of spectacular shapes. Back then Costa Smeralda was an uninhabited area with no roads or any infrastructure. Only a few people in the world knew about the existence of this wonderful nook in Sardinia, and Sardinia was considered a very inhospitable land inhabited by gangsters.