Information about Alghero
Published Articles
- 48 hours in Alghero - Italia! - April 2008
- It's a real town, not a resort - Financial Times - November 2007
48 hours in Alghero
Italia! written by Heather Browne, April 2008
It's a real town, not a resort
Financial Times written by Nick Foster, November 2007
The fortunes of the Ramblas pizzeria on the seafront of the Sardinian port of Alghero perfectly illustrate the revolution taking place in the local property market. "Five years ago we had hardly any foreign customers," says Laura, a waitress. "Now, apart from August, when Italians are in the majority, 70 per cent of diners in the summer months are from the British Isles, Germany or Scandinavia."
Situated in the north-west of Sardinia, Alghero used to be difficult to reach from northern Europe. But it is not any more. Nineteen airlines - most of them low-cost - now bring passengers into the nearby Fertilia airport from mainland Italy and the rest of the continent. Though the European Commission recently launched a formal investigation into support allegedly given by the Sardinian region and the publicly owned airport operator to various airlines operating there, the number of foreign visitors continues to skyrocket. They're expected to account for 60 per cent of the total this year, compared with 20 per cent in 1999.
"People start to think about buying property in a place like [this] when flights are available at a reasonable price year-round," says Stephen Wright, who moved to Alghero with his wife, Maria Grazia Vendone, a native of the town, three years ago and now helps foreign investors in Sardinia. "Since 2000, residential property prices in the town have doubled. As elsewhere in Italy, buyers had to contend with a price hike when the euro was introduced but the greater part of the increase can be attributed directly to the arrival of the low-cost airlines."
What newcomers find appealing about Alghero is that "it's a real, working port, not a holiday resort that closes down in the low season", he adds. "The restaurants stay open 12 months a year. It's quieter in the winter but the town still manages to put on a party on New Year's Eve with a huge fireworks display."
Other pleasures are quintessentially Italian ones: the evening passeggiata, ice cream on the seafront and fresh fish and pasta, including malloreddus, a Sardinian speciality. Window shopping is enlivened by several boutiques in the old town showcasing the creations of fashion designer and Alghero native Antonio Marras.
The beaches, which start at the edge of the town's marina and extend as far as the sheer cliffs of the imposing Capo Caccia to the west, rival those in the exclusive Costa Smeralda, directly across the island from Alghero, where celebrities from model Gisele Bündchen to former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi like to holiday.
But unlike Sardinia's more famous costa, which was developed virtually from scratch by a consortium headed by the Aga Khan in the 1960s, Alghero lives and breathes its past. It was founded in 1102 by the Genoese but settled mainly by Catalans in the 15th century, following the town's capture by the Aragonese in 1354. To this day many Algheresi speak Catalan as well as Italian and are proud of this heritage, which has earned the town the name of Barcellonetta, or "little Barcelona".
Michael Robinson and his wife Shirley, from Dublin, bought a €115,000 studio flat in Alghero a year ago, in part because of the town's history. "I first came because, as a modern-languages teacher, I was intrigued about the town's linguistic heritage," he says. "The old town is a constant source of surprises. It was only on our third or fourth visit that we discovered a Polish church tucked away in a side street."
Of course, "when it came to deciding to buy property, the wonderful local beaches and especially the tiny coves you can reach only by foot or by boat were the key factor," he acknowledges.
He plans to rent out the flat a couple of times a year and is confident about recouping his running costs. "Villas around the town were booked solid for the summer of 2007. There is a massive demand for all types of property now," he says. His only worry is that "first-time local buyers and growing families are increasingly priced out".
Other growing pains include a shortage of hotel rooms to satisfy both holidaymakers and prospective second-home buyers and a dearth of taxi drivers.
But mayor Marco Tedde - an enthusiastic Catalan speaker with a modern office on the outskirts of Alghero - thinks that his town can retain locals and maintain its special identity even as it welcomes newcomers. "We can grow from 40,000 inhabitants today to 60,000 in 10 years' time," he says. "Foreign investors are important in the changes that are happening here and of course they bring new jobs."
His main worry is a package of "wrong-headed and dangerous" luxury taxes introduced in May of this year by Renato Soru, the centre-left president of Sardinia and the billionare founder of telecommunications group Tiscali, which he thinks could slow down the local economy. One tax in particular makes second-home ownership for non-residents - particularly if the property is close to the shore - considerably more expensive.
For now, though, the measure has not stopped development or property sales. Driving out of Alghero toward the harbour of Porto Conte, Wright points out the brand-new promenade that skirts the marina, beyond which are vineyards and a collection of nurahgi - the beehive-shaped remains of prehistoric dwellings found throughout the island. At the end of a dirt track is a new building facing the sea and at its top is a four-bedroom apartment with 150 sq metres of living space and a large terrace. The asking price is a steep €700,000 but Wright argues that well-situated homes will keep their value because strict planning rules outlaw almost all new construction close to the water's edge.
Fifteen minutes' drive inland near the village of Olmedo a group of Sardinian investors is planning to build luxury villas, a hotel and an 18-hole golf course, which would consolidate Alghero's expansion to its immediate hinterland. For the moment the land is virgin apart from the dry-stone walls that cross a ridge covered with juniper and myrtle. On one side, the bay of Alghero is visible; on the other, if it's clear, you can apparently see as far as Corsica.
Back in the town centre, Wright shows me what is probably the most expensive residential property for sale in Alghero. Built a little over a century ago, the shimmering Villa Mosca has 23 rooms and views of the spires of the old town and Capo Caccia from its landscaped garden, which also has a gatekeeper's cottage. It is priced at €7m through local agent Alghero Estates.
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