Cindy Yu
How to holiday like James Bond in Sardinia
Posing as a marine biologist and with Soviet agent Anya Amasova posing as his wife, James Bond checked into Hotel Cala di Volpe in the The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Their mission: to gather intelligence aboard super-villain Karl Stromberg’s secret underwater lair, somewhere in the Tyrrhenian Sea between Sardinia and the Italian mainland. In the meantime, they stay in a spacious suite with exposed wooden beams and open ocean views (where Amasova also vows to kill Bond when the mission is over).
When I stayed at Cala di Volpe this year, I saw no villainous marine lair, just Tommy Hilfiger’s super yacht. The hotel has retained its Bond glamour through the years and offers the super-rich (and some super-famous) a more private experience than St Tropez or Monaco. For the rest of us, this Sardinian institution is a decadent place to spend a few days (or weeks) – if you can afford it.
Its architect, Jacques Couëlle (friend to Picasso and Dali), had a philosophy of ‘home landscape’, which meant that architecture should reflect the nature around it. At Cala di Volpe, that’s been translated into cave-like stone arches (painted white or clay orange) that give the hotel a sculptural feel. From behind (that is, from the sea), Cala di Volpe looks like a warren, with each alcove a secluded balcony set above the bay. (This balcony was my favourite part of an altogether fabulous room, especially when, in what locals regarded as a freak weather event, it rained one day.) Inside, the terraces and cloisters of Cala di Volpe are chic and muted. It reminded me of a grand Mediterranean villa – homely but never gauche.
For the yacht-less, food and drink is a big part of whiling away the time. The house drink is the bellini, a delicious concoction made from crushed peaches marinated in lemon juice, strained with Italian brut. Cala di Volpe alone has four restaurants, including one by sushi chef Nobu Matsuhisa (yes, the Nobu). Our trip coincided with his fleeting visit as part of a European tour of his culinary empire. ‘Nobu-san’ talked us through the making of some of his signature dishes while a trusted lieutenant demonstrated in the open kitchen (Nobu doesn’t seem to work the kitchen himself any more). Our eight-course omakase (translating as ‘I’ll leave it up to you’ – meaning the chef chooses what to serve the customer) menu that evening included an unforgettable tuna sashimi salad and the world famous black cod with miso (the meaty fillet is marinated in miso for three days then caramelised on top). Nobu has now opened a club on the hotel’s private beach called 'Matsuhisa Beach', a short boat ride away, where you can enjoy sushi by the seaside.
In between meals, Cala di Volpe has plenty of other amenities. There are two gyms, one open air and the other not (though I didn’t make it to either). As with all good luxury hotels, there was an on-site spa (I did make it to that). The pool is Olympic-sized, though even my host didn’t know why it was filled with saltwater. And for children and families, there’s a playground and farm, complete with a grandfatherly farmer to whom the baby goats answer by name and staff who’ll take your kids for the day.
This was quite a different holiday to the kind of Italian trip I usually have. Instead of church hunting in Rome or crowd weaving through Naples, Costa Smeralda was all about food, sun, drinks and sea. Admiring the framed bay view from my balcony alcove, I could see why Couëlle and his associates bothered to build all this, from scratch, on one uninhabited corner of Sardinia.
Double rooms at Hotel Cala di Volpe cost from £360 in low season and £1,000 in high season.