Summer in the city is all very well but I know I’m not alone in dreaming of a sun dappled table and a cool glass of something overlooking an azure blue sea. And for anyone still somewhat undecided where to retreat to this August one suggestion comes up time and time again: Sardinia. Specifically Porto Cervo, a longtime magnet for the more well-heeled design aficionados on an annual basis.  At the southern and eastern shore of the island’s natural port, where large luxury sailboats settle comfortably into the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda for the season. A location for at least one Bond film, the coast of Romazzino Bay in Porto Cervo is metaphorically paved in gold, often cited as the most expensive location in Europe. Here house prices reach up to €300,000 per sq metre and a good handful of the most premium hotels in the world stand side by side.  Seven years ago design collector and famous Milanese gallerist Rossana Orlandi invited her London counterparts Valerio Capo and Sam Pratt of Gallery Fumi to try an experiment and set up shop for the summer on the island. Gallery Fumi Porto Cervo has become an annual fixture, like Orlandi’s, ever since.  Capo and Pratt bring new works by their artists and designers each year in the hope of finding both respite from London’s erratic summer scene, and new opportunities for sales and commissions, and they have not been disappointed yet, says Capo. “Porto Cervo is a very exclusive seaside destination and we thought to give it a try as a way of meeting new clients. A summer gallery is a great way to meet people who are having a summer break, They are generally more relaxed and have more time to engage in what we do at Fumi. We also enjoy being 'forced' to be here in the summer, there are worse places I could think of working from!”  Highlights of this year's exhibition also include two main collaborations with Espasso, which specialises in modern and contemporary Brazilian design, and Tuscan wood specialists I Vassalletti. So as well as new works from acclaimed Brazilian designers Zanini de Zanine and Claudia Moreira Salles, the summer show includes a stunning floor installation, which takes the shape of a carpet through inlaid and marquetry wooden tiles.  Overall, says Capo, the ethos and aesthetic is the same as it is in their London home – though there might be even more of it. “We always show a good mixture of large and small objects and art. We curate the summer show as seriously as we do with any of our other shows. In fact there are so many more pieces than in a usual show at the London gallery. This year we opened a Fumi Objects on one of the floors at the gallery, which is proving very popular.”  Many clients are regulars, who visit the island every year, he explains, and as the island steadily increases in popularity the summer gallery was clearly a shewed business move. Is there any downside? Only the obvious: “There is of course our many friends who take advantage of our working here!”  Perhaps not really a downside then. And who can blame them?  Gallery Fumi is open in Porto Cervo from 15 June to 30 of September
London gallerists Valerio Capo and Sam Pratt return to the Costa Smeralda in a bid to court the yacht set with their summer pop-up