Luigi Vietti, la Costa Smeralda, gli anni Sessanta. La costruzione di un progetto di ricerca

Since the early 1960s, Luigi Vietti (1903-1998) was the protagonist of a vast real estate operation, hardly comparable to other contemporary national experiences, which led to the invention of the architectural identity of an untouched landscape. The architect was involved in the birth and development of the Costa Smeralda, a tourism initiative financially supported by a consortium of international investors. In 1961 the president of the Costa Smeralda Consortium, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV (1936-2005), brought together architects Michele Busiri Vici, Jacques Couëlle, Antonio Simon Mossa and Luigi Vietti, who were responsible for the development the tourist area, in a heterogeneous working group. Vietti’s role was hardly comparable to that of the other designers involved. Not only was his 30-year presence in Sardinia exceptional, but also his privileged relationship with the Aga Khan, his client. Upstream of the architect’s professional success is his ability to invent an unprecedented way of inhabiting the Sardinian landscape and to imagine a “spontaneous” holiday life punctuated by exclusive social rituals.