Yes, it is the hotel where Ava Gardner lived her fiery night of passion with the bullfighter Mario Cabré. Yes, it is where in that torrid summer of 1950 her then-husband Frank Sinatra came running (flying) to put an end to that idyll that emerged during the filming of the movie Pandora and the Flying Dutchman to settle his differences with “the most beautiful animal in the world.” world” in the cocktail bar. Between dry martinis, slaps and kisses.
But the La Gavina hostel, opened in 1933 with only 11 rooms (now 74), has also accommodated Peter Sellers, Rudolf Nureyev, Lauren Bacall, Cole Porter, Josep Carreras, Camilo José Cela, Octavio Paz, John Wayne and Orson Welles, who left without paying.
More recently to Lady Gaga and many years ago to Selwyn Lloyd, the British minister and member of the House of Commons, who became one more member of the family, as well as Josep Pla (he always ate garlic soup or thyme and French omelette) or Xavier Cugat, who, full of joy, in his best days, would come with his wife Abbe Lane and the two Chihuahuas that the actress and singer put in the pockets of her bathrobe to go down to the beach.
But the true soul of this five-star luxury hotel that takes equal care of its rooms, its dream pool (believe it, there is no other like it, at least on the Costa Brava) and haute cuisine governed by Romain Fornell was, without a doubt, Josep Ensesa Gubert. To him, the grandfather of the current owners (the brothers Josep, Julia, Virginia and Carina Ensesa Viñas), we owe not only the existence of the establishment where everyone wants to be, but also the very existence of S’Agaró.
Before Ensesa met with the architect Rafael Masó to shape the debt of 11,000 pesetas that in 1916 a baker settled with him by giving him a piece of land between the beaches of Sant Pol and Sa Conca, S’Agaró didn’t even exist.
Then, when the fishermen lived with their backs to the sea, Ensesa bought the neighboring farms to build, in addition to La Gavina, this corner dotted with luxury buildings and the Camí de Ronda. A place with 99 years of history well rooted in the future. A place for stars and with a star.
