Abstract

What was a holiday in the Costa Smeralda of the 1960s or 1990s really like? Can we recreate, reimagine, or re-experience that feeling in a world of rapid change? The Island on an Island: A Cultural History of Costa Smeralda examines how north-eastern Sardinia—one of the most stunning areas in the world—became an artificial paradise, constantly adapting to present tourists with the latest version of paradise they desire. By viewing tourism not merely as a break from daily life, but as an ever-evolving current at the heart of culture and society, this book explores how Costa Smeralda has never remained fixed. The media system has played a pivotal role in this process: since the 1990s, media itself has become the very substance of what is communicated, perfectly illustrating Jean Baudrillard’s insight that the media produce maps of reality that overlap the real territory to the point where people no longer perceive actual reality, but only its mediated forms. Over time, numerous layers—both literal and figurative—have obscured the origi-nal land that peasants and shepherds once sold cheaply to wealthy entrepreneurs. In tandem, media and tourism have consistently created an ideal environment for those in power. Now that this trend is slowing, no one knows which new paradise will emerge in Costa Smeralda. It is clear, however, that emerging forms of cultur-al, experiential, and sustainable tourism share little in common with today’s Costa Smeralda—suggesting that its current model is in need of rethinking.