Swept away in Sardinia - The Sydney Morning Herald on Alghero

Daniel Scott is taken by the tranquillity of a glamorous island gem.

There is a touch of Walt Disney about this beautifully set castle, built in 1880, right on the rocky north-west coast of Sardinia, in the seaside town of Alghero. Maybe it's the crenellations on its roof, or the sandy yellow and Etruscan-red colouring of its exterior. Perhaps it is the fact that it stands alone on its own private promontory reaching out into the Mediterranean behind big electric gates and tropical gardens. Or it could just be that its history has conferred a certain glitz and glamour upon the Hotel Villa Las Tronas.

It was once the Sardinian holiday home of Italian royalty and more recently the bolthole of the queen of '80s pop music, Madonna, and her husband Guy Ritchie, while filming the remake of the classic movie Swept Away on the island.

The attractive town of Alghero will probably never be as glamorous as Sardinia's yacht-infested Costa Smeralda. But with Alghero airport just 20 minutes away and served regularly by Ryanair from London, this old Catalan-influenced town, which faces the northern Spanish coast, is ideal for a quick break from Britain.

The advantage of the Hotel Villa Las Tronas is that, unlike most hotels in Sardinia, it is open all year round. In fact, December/January is a good time to visit Las Tronas, when temperatures in Sardinia are about 10 degrees above those in northern Europe. And, in any case, all is cosy inside.

But it is during the warmer months when the hotel's extensive grounds come into their own, with a large terrace for evening drinks and a lovely open-air sea-water pool right on the rocks above the Mediterranean.

Whatever the time of year, the Hotel Villa Las Tronas remains determinedly quiet and private in feel. This comfy ambience is mainly achieved in the hotel's public areas, from the small seating area in the lobby through the bar area with its collection of sofas, to the dining area set against the hotel's panoramic ground-floor windows.

Sturdy dark wooden 19th-century cabinets rest against the walls of the lounge below heavy, gilt-framed period paintings, while a number of imposing sculpted busts of (no-doubt notable) moustachioed men adorn the room's alcoves.

A hefty marble fountain-piece sits in the middle of it all and there is a wink to Catalan style in the twisty modern standing lamps dotted around the dining room and lounge area. By contrast, crystal-glass chandeliers hang heavily from the ceiling.

Elsewhere on the ground floor there are a few similarly furnished drawing rooms in which to relax with a book.

The on-site restaurant offers accomplished Mediterranean cuisine, the freshly caught fish such as sea bass or monkfish being the best bets. There is usually a Sardinian speciality on the menu, too, such as gnocchi Sardi in a lamb ragu or fregula (a granular pasta similar to couscous) cooked in a variety of ways. Tangy Sardinian cheeses round off the meal and there is a fair wine list including some earthy reds from nearby Santa Maria di Gallura.

But the real attraction of dining at the Villa Las Tronas is the Royal Albert Hall-standard pianist, who must surely be Sardinia's best. For a couple of hours most evenings, this tousle-haired young musician tickles the ivories in an eclectic but always virtuoso style.

This is a small hotel with about 20 rooms and service is suitably personal. It can be a little slow, particularly at breakfast when your cravings for an espresso can remain unmet for a while, but that is hardly an issue in summer when you can sit out on the terrace and let the view of the Med slowly wake you up.

If you have a room at the front of the hotel, you open the shutters to the full glory of the frothy blue ocean bashing against the rocks below. The attractive skyline of Alghero's old town and the distant headland of Capo Caccio is off to the right, and the wild west coast of Sardinia stretches off to the left.

Bedrooms at the Hotel Villa Las Tronas are square, high-ceilinged and a good size, with dark emerald and black tiled floors. The centrepiece is a good, firm king-sized bed on a metal frame and furnishings are elegant, 19th-century style, including the original fixture for holding a lamp. There are charmingly rickety old-style shutters on both the inside and outside of the long tall windows and large mirrored floor-to-ceiling wardrobes add to the sense of space.

The Hotel Villa Las Tronas is not exactly a 21st-century hotel in terms of technology: the in-room televisions are old and pick up only a few fuzzy satellite channels and the phones in the room are '80s-style. There is, however, hidden away under the stairs on the ground floor, a useful internet connection for guests.

But you won't be staying at this individual and quirky four-star Sardinian hotel for its mod cons; you'll be here for the beauty and tranquillity of its setting.

Sydney Morning Herald