Retail maverick Andrea Brugnoni on what’s next for his Sardinian cultural district
It’s strange to think that the coastal town of Porto Cervo in Sardinia, where designer boutiques now vie over shop space, was once farming pasture that was deemed so worthless it was given to the island’s peasant women to keep goats.
It wasn’t until the 1960s when Aga Khan arrived and fell in love with the Costa Smeralda’s sparkling waters and rugged beaches that it’s glitzy transformation began. Khan created Porto Cervo from scratch, tuning it into his own personal paradise playground. Today its become a magnet for the megarich, who visit in their superyachts to do a spot of shopping and sunbathing.
While the flashy brands and showy bars entertain tourists in the old town, the area’s discerning visitors head to the more artistic Promenade du Port, where retail maverick Andrea Brugnoni has spent the last 11 years carefully crafting a unique cultural destination that he says defines what luxury means today.
Art, fashion, design and food come together at Promenade du Port
Made up of around 60 retail units, Brugoni’s corner of Porto Cervo combines fashion, art, food and design provided by a finely tuned balance of both emerging and established names. For instance, La Pasqualina, the Promenade’s artisan gelato shop, was discovered by Brugoni at its original location in the hills of Bergamo. After tasting its Sicilian lemon gelato he invited the owners to set up a shop in the Promenade just up the hill from the Rolls-Royce showroom (reportedly one of the marque’s most successful outposts) – ‘both are equally important’ stresses Brugoni noting the juxtaposition.
A longtime friend of the site’s owner, Brugnoni personally masterminded the idea of a cultural Promenade and in the process naturally fell into the role of its creative director and business manager. ‘The idea was to create something that seemed as if it had been there since 1961,’ he says of the early days. ‘It’s been a learning curve and I’m always looking for ways to improve.’
Tanned, bearded and casually attired, Brugnoni eschews the stereotypical image of the property developer businessman. This is however is no surprise when you learn that he is the son of Milan’s First Lady of design, Rossana Orlandi. In his younger days he spent his time travelling between Milan, Argentina, London, New York, France and Spain, where he learnt a thing or two about creating a retail experience, or ‘a good vibe’ as he prefers to call it.
Aerial view of Promenade du Port
‘The culture has to come first and the commercial side will follow. The human side of it is vital,’ he informs. Indeed, on his arrival at the Promenade in Porto Cervo, 11 years ago as a 26-year-old business graduate, the first thing he did was open up a small museum and the brands soon followed.
Today the promenade’s village-like streets are bustling with shoppers exploring unusual stores such as Vespa Smeralda – a mecca for Vespa enthusiasts with its colorful line-up of one-of-a-kind bikes from all across Italy. Nearby, the Paci Contemporary showcases exquisite photography such as a rare set of prints of Marilyn Monroe from Bert Stern’s The Last Sitting shoot in 1962. Other crowd-pleasers include the Sardinian outpost of Galleria Rossana Orlandi with its two floors of collectable design and the recently arrived Basara restaurant, which serves up a unique combination of sushi and pastry.
‘There are some criteria for the retailers that have a space here,’ explains Brugoni. ‘The shop has to be different to what you will find in the rest of the world, there has to be a design or an architectural element and within three or four years they have to come up with a capsule collection that is sold only here.’
Next year will mark the Promenade’s tenth season and Brugoni is planning ahead. ‘When the season starts here each year, my mind is already working on next year. I want to continue to push brands to think outside the box – when this happens, there really is no limit.’
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Promenade du Port website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
ADDRESS
Via Aga Khan 1
07021 Arzachena
-
The Brazilian Forest House injects art into a modernist-inspired, contemporary design
The Brazilian Forest House, designed in upstate São Paulo by FGMF, brings together nature and art
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Waiting room inspo: Inside Studioutte’s cinematic Sala D’Attesa at Milan Design Week
Studioutte’s Sala D’Attesa, staged in Nolo during Milan Design Week 2024, was a scenographic interior merging different design sensibilities
By Laura May Todd Published
-
Bang & Olufsen’s Recreated Classics series continues with a CD player revival
Bang & Olufsen’s Beosystem 9000c music system brings the original digital compact disc format back to life and pairs it with the latest in speaker design
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Giovanni Michelucci’s dramatic concrete church in the Italian Dolomites
Giovanni Michelucci’s concrete Church of Santa Maria Immacolata in the Italian Dolomites is a reverently uplifting memorial to the victims of a local disaster
By Jonathan Glancey Published
-
Christian de Portzamparc’s Dior Geneva flagship store dazzles and flows
Dior’s Geneva flagship by French architect Christian de Portzamparc has a brand new, wavy façade that references the fashion designer's original processes using curves, cuts and light
By Herbert Wright Published
-
Milan’s 10 Corso Como revamp nods to the concept store’s industrial character
Milanese concept store 10 Corso Como unveils its new look by 2050+, a stripped-back design that nods to its 20th-century character
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Carlo Ratti announced curator of Venice Architecture Biennale 2025
Carlo Ratti has been revealed as the Director of the Architecture Department at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, with the specific task of curating the 19th International Architecture Exhibition
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Floating infinity pool by Herzog & De Meuron at Lake Como is largest of its kind
Herzog & de Meuron creates the largest floating infinity pool in the world for Mandarin Oriental in Lake Como
By Lauren Ho Published
-
Best of brutalist Italian architecture chronicled in new book
Brutalist Italian architecture enthusiasts and concrete completists will be spoilt for choice by Roberto Conte and Stefano Perego’s pictorial tour
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Studio Tropicana, Switzerland and Italy: Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2023
Based in Switzerland and Italy, Studio Tropicana is part of the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2023, our annual round-up of exciting emerging architecture studios
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
WeWork Meravigli blends past and present in a 21st-century office space
WeWork Meravigli launches in Milan, bringing its ornate, historical new home to the 21st century
By Ellie Stathaki Published