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(translation from Italian)

In a short but beautiful film from the Historical Light Archive, filmed in the spring of 1962, the young and enthusiastic Prince Karim Aga Khan is seen on the grounds where the Emerald Coast, "the queen of holidaying" is about to be born. Three months earlier, the Chief of the Ishmaelites had illustrated his tourism project in Olbia. The photos, published on the cover and at the bottom of the article, were kindly granted to us by the then mayor Saverio Demichele. They document the courtesy visit made by Karim Aga Khan on 23 January 1962 to the municipal administrators of Olbiesi gathered in the Town Hall of Corso Umberto. The memory of those moments is still alive in Lietta Campesi Fontana; She was given the task of handing the young prince a bouquet of red carnations: "It has been many years since that day but that scene is imprinted in my mind. There was a festive atmosphere with many Olbiesi who had gathered in the small square in front of the municipality; everyone wanted to see the Aga Khan ..

I was a little girl and my father was a councillor for Tourism at the time. When they told me I should give the flowers to the prince, I was very excited, but it was a pleasant feeling. I waited for her on the stairs, in the small atrium leading to the Mayor's offices, and delivered the bouquet of red carnations to the Aga Khan before meeting with the local administrators." The protagonists of that meeting are numerous: in addition to the mayor of Olbia, Saverio Demichele, there is that of Arzachena, Giacomo Orecchioni; The Olbiese municipal council is full. In one photo, Peppino Carzedda, who recently passed away, is recognized, smiling. The Aga Khan is accompanied by its closest collaborators. "The municipal building, decorated in celebration, is manned by the body of the civic guards in large uniform," writes Franco Porcu in the article published in New Sardinia. His journalistic chronicle of that visit is part of the collection of preserved "cuts", along with hundreds of …

"Prince Karim has stated, among other things, that the plan presented to the mayor is general and is limited, for now, to indicate the areas that will be interested in the development of tourism and the construction of the impressive works, for which will be spent over forty billion lire in a few years. The implementation of the great plan, said Aga Khan, will pass as soon as everything has been decided in every detail, in agreement with the members of the consortium formed last September. The group that is part of the Aga Khan aims at the economic and social development of the whole north-eastern part of Sardinia, with the construction of hotels, villages, ports and tourist-recreational works. Referring to the contacts he had in Cagliari with the President of the Corrias Region and those he will have in the coming days in Rome with senior figures of the government Prince Karim (who is, incidentally) of extreme stateliness and treats everyone with extreme kindness and fam ...