A semi circular natural cove, north east of Sardinia, was once chosen to become Porto Rotondo, already known among local people as “Poltu Ridundu”. A geographic area destined to become a leisure port surrounded by a seaside village. In 1964 Nicolò and Luigi Donà dalle Rose, counts from Venice, committed themselves on creating both port and village.
Almost everything came naturally and the village was built following inspiration and creativity, with an eye to quality. These brothers’ idea was to make a milieu for artists and intellectuals out of Porto Rotondo, and the sculptors Andrea Cascella and Giancarlo Sangregorio were the first to accept this invitation.
The former designed Piazza San Marco, the meeting place par excellance for vacationers. The latter created fishermen’s wet dock square, called “Vecchia Darsena”. Twenty-eight stonecutters from Gallura worked the granite Andrea Cascella needed to build the square, the flight of steps, Church of San Lorenzo’s façade, its megalithic cross and the altar.
The Church of San Lorenzo stood empty - the way Andrea Cascella made it - for a short time, then a young sculptor - Mario Ceroli - was given the task to embellish its interior with his enchanting wood sculpture. Ceroli was also commissioned to build the theatre: it has come full circle. The initial idea was recently relaunched with the birth of Fondazione PortoRotondo, which is now completing that great artistic work started 45 years ago.
In 2007, the Breton artist Emmanuel Chapalain created the “food chain”, the already famous mosaic which Via del Molo is paved with.
In 2008/2009 Mario Ceroli himself completed all construction works in the Church of San Lorenzo creating the wonderful wood bell tower, the crystal portal and the glass window placed on it, representing “The Deposition from the Cross”. The artist dedicated this work of art to workers who die at work because of no respect of legal standards of safety. Moreover, he built Church’s south-facing façade with its rose window completely made in Murano.
Nowadays, Porto Rotondo is one of the most important Mediterranean tourist resorts welcoming in summer 20 thousand tourists - with peaks of 30 thousand people in August - every year.
A lot of impressive beaches surround the district and its tourist port ready to accommodate more than 650 all sized boats. The area which Porto Rotondo lies on has three “promontories” at its ends: Punta Nuraghe, Punta Volpe, and Punta Lada. Hidden amid Sardinia’s typical lush maquis, there are apartments, resorts and awesome villas belonging to important intellectual, fashion, business and politics leading figures. Its proximity to Olbia - which is just 15 km far, with its port and its International airport - further boosted its development.
