The unarmed ruins of the "Mediterranean", the hotel that used to belong to Cagliari well, look out over the Gulf of Angels as if time had stopped here forever. The green and light blue nets of the perennial construction site have irremediably enveloped the advance of day and night for nine years now. Since that distant 2013, the date of the passing of the historic hotel from Sardinian to Russian hands, the sunsets on the Devil's Saddle follow the Byzantine hour, that of the sun, the same of Mount Athos, the secret and reserved peninsula of Russian Orthodoxy in the 'Ancient Greece. After all, even here, close to the curls of Su Siccu, as in the shores of the Athos monasteries, only the solar star remains to mark the time. In this Piazza dei Centomila, disputed between the sacred and the pagan, habits were marked by the striking of breakfasts and aperitifs. Yet the red-Russian thread between this proscenium dominated by the Basilica of Bonaria and the Greek Mount of Athos is much more than a simple real estate deal in Sardinia. It is the gray eminences, the mysterious roles of palace and sacristy, that place this story on the fleeting border between the power of the Kremlin and the leaders of Russian Orthodoxy. In this story there is much more than a hotel purchase contract that marked the epic of Cagliari hospitality. In the papers of Marco Papi, notary in Rome, moreover, that 26 July 2013, to sign the purchase was an anonymous Russian gentleman, with no history and no money.

"Changed" names

Nothing, on the eve of that purchase in Sardinia, foreshadowed the imminent landing of Putin in Crimea, with the consequent saraband of sanctions for his "friends", including "imperialist" Russia. The contract for the sale of the hotel, complete with the transfer of shares from the holding that belonged to Romano Fanti, enterprising entrepreneur from Cagliari, from waste to tourism, to Mr. Vitaly Khomyakov, was a coup de theater. Certainly no one could attribute to Vitaly the role of the man of greater confidence than the unknown but very powerful "masseur" of Vladimir Putin. He, Konstantin Goloshchapov, had given Khomyakov carte blanche: to transform the Hotel Mediterraneo, that of Juventus, the political leaders, the great artists and the all-Sardinian lobbies, into the first extra-luxury five-star hotel in the city of Sant'Efisio. The adventure under delegation, however, did not last long. The attempt to "expropriate" the good from the legitimate "oligarch-masseur" collapses with the advance of complaints and sentences of all kinds, including criminal cases, which are then archived. A real feud in the Russian house, which ended with expatriation to Switzerland and a reversal of the registry. Without a declared reason Vitaly Khomyakov, as we anticipated, changes its name. The document we are publishing is from the Consulate General of Italy in Lugano, the new home and new life of the man who was the silent arm of Konstantin Goloshchapov in the land of Sardinia. Disappeared from circulation as not even Russian spies could have done.

The son of the "Cardinal"

At that point, and we are on May 9, 2014, it is still the notary Papi, in the Forum of Rome, who sanctions the advent, with name and surname, of the just adult scion of Putin's "Gray Cardinal", not just any oligarch . Behind the purchase of the glorious Mediterraneo hotel, in fact, there is much more than a Russian in the mood for tourist shopping in Sardinia. Leading the umpteenth hotel climb, as if there were an order given from above, is the man closest to Vladimir Putin. To take the field, in fact, is the "masseur" of the body, business and spirit of the Tsar of Russia.

The man from Mount Athos

It is not a gamble if we consider Konstantin Goloshchapov one of the most eminent key figures in the geopolitical, religious and business scenario between Putin and the powerful Russian orthodoxy. It is he, in fact, the man of the "Mediterranean" of Cagliari, who opens the doors of the most severe religious "confession" to Putin himself, including the traumatic break, both on a political and spiritual level, with the Western aspirations of Ukraine . In Moscow, as we know, the small "circle" of St. Petersburg, that of the loyalists, rules. Among all, however, there is precisely the "masseur", that of the "Mediterranean" by Bonaria, who leads the rear of the Kremlin, starting from direct relations with Russian orthodoxy. In the buildings of Red Square, in fact, there are the mandarins of the Kremlin, but above all there are them, the men of the Orthodox elite, destined to share the political fortunes of Russia with the Tsar. A close union, a pact of spirit and blood. In reality, the Orthodox Church has courted them out of all proportion, and they have let themselves be courted, with so much money and doctrines "settled" as never before in the power of the Palace.

The first climb

And in this case, Konstantin Goloshchapov himself opens the front. It was 1998 when the young "masseur" of the future Tsar of Russia climbs into the steep inlets of Mount Athos, a Greek peninsula that has become a fiefdom and a Republic of Orthodox monks. An autonomous state in the Greek state. Goloshchapov is the first of Putin's loyalists to plow through the monasteries forbidden to women in the heart of the sacred mountain. His return to Moscow is told like a spell, destined to mark the Orthodox turning point with the advent of Putin in the Kremlin. It will take six years, however, to convince the former secret agent of the KGB, who has become President of the Russian Federation, to cross the threshold of Mount Athos.

Putin in Mount Athos

It is 2005 when Putin is welcomed as a messiah in the Monastery of San Panteleimon, in one of the peaks of the divine mountain. Love is at first sight, but it won't be cheap. The Kremlin man understands that that enclave of spirituality and power can be his, counting, as is happening in these months of war against Ukraine, in the unconditional support of the Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. Putin wants an iron pact. And he does not think twice about entrusting his loyalists with the mission of animating the spirit of Athos with millions of rubles. The operation is entrusted to the man of the "Mediterranean" from Cagliari, Konstantin Goloshchapov. It is he who founded the "Russian Athos Society". The goal is clear: to activate the financial flow of the oligarchs to the Orthodox monasteries.

Sect, rubles & doctrine

Rubles are not enough, the "sect" of Putin's men, commissioned by the owner of the Su Siccu Hotel, also demands doctrine. After just a year, the tourism of the rich invades that enclave of power and spirituality. Holidays for spirit and business. The top executives of the most important state companies arrive, the highest exponents of the Russian government, from politicians to officials, all welcomed in cells transformed into luxury suites, including helicopter flights from Thessaloniki and yachts to get to the coast. A month before the last elections in Russia, Kirill, the Patriarch, lets himself be carried away by the impetus: Putin's government was a "miracle of God". Support for the invasion of Ukraine did the rest. It is difficult to think that Goloshchapov, the man of Mount Athos, wanted to retrace the climb to the Sacred Mount in front of the Basilica of Bonaria in Cagliari, certainly, however, the purchase of the Hotel Mediterraneo still remains a mystery today.

Hotel without a future

If only because the application for the extension of the building title for the transformation of the "Mediterraneo Hotel" into extra-luxury was, after a thousand troubles, expired in September 2020. None since then, in the offices of Ottone Baccaredda, residence of the Municipality of Cagliari , it has made itself felt more. After all, the difference between Su Siccu and Mount Athos lies entirely in the jurisdiction. Here, in the land of Sardinia, the goods and capital of Putin's men every day risk ending up in the mesh of the European "freeze", on Mount Athos, on the other hand, Russian orthodoxy, that of Vladimir Putin, rules. In the meantime, the Hotel Mediterraneo awaits a miracle, which for the moment will not come. Goloshchapov, the Tsar's “masseur”, has lost the volumetric increase of the house floor and, for the moment, they advise him not to invest fresh money in the Bel Paese. His closest mentors, former partners in Russian banks, the Rotenberg brothers, Boris and Arkady, both ended up under sanctions. A sign at the entrance to Viale Diaz is all too clear: "Hotel closed for renovation - opening May 2015". We are in 2022, the year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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