The earthly paradise is armored. The surveillance cameras are those of Fort Knox. Each side of this enclave is forbidden by infrared and discreet gates. Day and night, for 48 years, this peninsula in the heart of Porto Cervo has been off limits. It is impossible to see that park of villas placed in front of the Islet of Mortorio, in the exclusive proscenium of Romazzino, an enchanted reserve, close to Cala di Volpe. Here, in this stage of nature and sea, unbridled luxury and "private" beaches, impressive pages of history have been written, not only of the Costa Smeralda.

Oil & dollars

In those lounges, overlooking the blue waters of the Aga Khan's dream, the fate of the world was also negotiated, from the bloodiest wars to the stratospheric oil deals. Heads of state and powerful have passed through here, from the Americans to the Arabs. Never an image, never a draft. From those regal rooms wedged into the rocks of Gallura it is impossible to discern a single secret. Impossible to get close. This heavily armored triangle of paradise on earth is still today one of the most impenetrable places on the richest coast of the Mediterranean. It is useless to try to fly over with a steel seagull. The national civil aviation agency has imposed the no-fly drone. The bonds here have remained those of the sheikh, the supreme head of oil branded Saudi Arabia, the number one power of black gold, that Minister as powerful as he is rich. In this strip of land, the man who came from afar has taken root since 1974.

The sheikh in Sardinian land

He, Ahmed Zaki Yamani, known to all as Yamani, lands in Porto Cervo when he is not yet 44 years old, but has already been oil minister of Saudi Arabia for twelve. It is he who, the year before his ascent to Sardinia, had imposed on OPEC to quadruple the price of oil. An operation that made him suddenly climb the world peaks of the richest men ever. When he sets his feet in that Sardinian hermitage he doesn't use half words: “Heaven is here”. The negotiation for the purchase of that park full of rocks and junipers is not exhausting. The Arab with Western elegance, from turban to tie, knows how to manage a sale, albeit with a colossus of the caliber of Henry Ford II, the president of the powerful American car manufacturer, owner of that piece of Costa Smeralda. That land in 1974 will be his. Already the following year the first palace will be built. It starts with 23 rooms, all princely, to arrive at the current 30. Yamani is not satisfied. He wants that whole strip of exclusive land. First conquer the portion next to it, with another gigantic villa to be remodeled for the use and consumption of that Camp David where to host prime ministers and business man, and then get his hands on the very private residence of Giulio De Angelis, the victim entrepreneur a few years later of a dramatic kidnapping.

The suitcase

De Angelis had built that villa in his image and likeness, sculpted as a unique and rare piece. He wasn't going to sell it for any reason in the world. Who knows the story tells: Yamani showed up with a "suitcase", it was impossible to refuse the offer. The third palace also became the patrimony of the Saudi Minister on Sardinian soil. A gigantic, out of the ordinary park, dense vegetation and endless green lawns, treated like a pool table. The three sides to the sea of the Romazzino peninsula, close to the bends of via Asfodelo, fly the flag of Arabia. English bodyguards, equivalent to two-meter high shelves, scattered everywhere guard the whole area.

One, two or three

He lives in his mega yacht, in front of the three villas, which have become one, but when he decides to have lunch or dinner in his residences, he sets the table in all three. It will be up to him, at the last moment, to decide where to go: in one, in two or in three. Not whims, but security reasons, the witnesses of the time tell. All up to last year. On 23 February, at the age of 91, Ahmed Zaki Yamani leaves his earthly life, benefiting from the endemic longevity accumulated during his long holidays in Sardinia. The spotlights on that page of history, however, have left their mark, sculpted in that impregnable and exclusive "earthly paradise".

From Yamani to space

From the oil sheikh to the most spatial and innovative man in the world, the step is almost 50 years long. When the "Rising Sun", the $ 200 million yacht of Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle Corporation, overlooks the promontory of Mortorio, in front of Romazzino, no one knows who is a guest on board. July has just sprung into the land of holidays, the routes of billionaires begin to swarm with yachts from many zeros. Unable to keep accounts. That 138-meter-long “raft”, unbridled luxury and nabob features, touches that cove when prying eyes are already on the way back.

Elon's blitz

When the “camouflaged” tender leaves the “ship” it is impossible to intercept the mission: fleeting, rapid and above all secret. The wharf that receives visitors after years is precisely that of the main villa of the "Minister" of oil. The witness is an eye: Elon Musk, the guru of Tesla and SpaceX, reaches "paradise" in Sardinia. The richest man in the world. He who sees utopias like few others, who plans and realizes life and tourism in space, now wants to conquer heaven on earth, the one that once belonged to one of the most powerful men in the world. Elon Musk is unpredictable, whimsical, capable of grabbing missions that for many are unattainable. Unlike Yamani, he didn't land in that hermitage with a suitcase. From buying Twitter to selling Tesla stock, the car of the future, the global Elon has proven not to be accustomed to head shots. He thinks about everything, deals, checks and then, eventually, concludes. The mission in Yamani park was not planned by a real estate agency. Certain negotiations, such as the highly secretive one of the Chinese billionaire Nani Wang, revealed exclusively by our newspaper, are all secret in the restricted salons of the world elite. There is no mention of figures, but it is impossible to think of a value of less than 100 million euros.

Armored mission

The documents we publish confirm that the armored visit of Tesla's patron was not in the dark. The operation is managed by a limited company registered in the tax haven of Liechtestein: Safar SA, one of the companies that governed the immense wealth of Sheikh Yamani. All encrypted, locked in the secret of the company that left Italy in 2006 to move to the foreign state on the border with Europe. One passage is eloquent: between March and April of this year the directors of the Yamani company filed all the changes made to the Minister's residences at the Sassari land registry office.

Everything is ready

A “post mortem” passage that suggests the need to put all the documents for the sale of the century in order. Three villas, for a total of 79 rooms, 2,749 square meters in total and a unique proscenium in the world. It is impossible to know the moves of Elon Musk, one who does not crave for the holidays, but who certainly loves to amaze, break the mold, dare. If his blitz in Romazzino were to end, perhaps with the secret purchase of Yamani's company, the deal would mark an epochal turning point for the Costa Smeralda and all of Sardinia. Elon Musk, in fact, is not exactly the interpreter of the world of rich Arab oilmen or Russian oligarchs, if anything, he is the world icon of innovation, the most driven and dreamy. The combination of research in space, respect for the environment and the "earthly paradise" of Sardinia would be an explosive mixture capable of reassigning a strategic role to the island and the Mediterranean, not only in the elite of world tourism. Elon Musk, after all, is used to daring in impossible missions.

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