History of the hotel in Sardinia
The retreat was inaugurated in 1956 and operated until 1983, even after the closure of the mines where the workers worked. There were tennis courts, a large public swimming pool, soccer fields and a beautiful beach. In fact, it is still a nice place for a vacation today.
The Francesco Sartori Marine Colony in Funtanazza was inaugurated on May 13, 1956 and was run by the Montevecchio Mining Company for its employees and their families - especially their children. The hotel accommodated around six hundred children and one hundred employees during the summer periods from June to September. It was built of reinforced concrete in a large and impressive bay with a direct sea view. The bright interiors were designed for the temporary stay of children and there were plenty of entertainment facilities. These included two swimming pools, lounges, a separate service building, a garage, a caretaker's house, but also an isolation department for infectious diseases.
The "colony" commissioned by the engineers Filippo Minghetti and Giovanni Rolandi was built at a cost of 1.587 million lire. As it is far from civilisation, in a very quiet corner of Sardinia, an eighteen-kilometre-long road was built and pine trees were planted on an area of eight hectares. As all the infrastructure was missing, an aqueduct connected to the Montevecchio aqueduct also had to be built.