The small resort of Porto Rafael was founded on the North Eastern coast of Sardinia, Italy, by Raphael Neville, Count of Berlanga de Duero, in the late 1950s.
His grandfather was the director of the Julius Neville motor company in Spain.. Raphael Neville's maternal family were Spanish aristocrats; his grandmother Maria Romree Y Palacios was a lady in waiting in the Spanish court and the family title was inherited through the male line from her.. His mother Angeles Rubio Arguelles y Allessandri was founding patron of a theatre in Malaga, Spain, named Teatro Ara where she also directed plays (https://web.archive.org/web/20131012110422/http://www.guateque.net/nuestros_queridos_cines.htm).
His father wanted him to study Architecture in Paris, but his bohemian son had other ideas, and became a chorus dancer in the Follies Bergeres dancing in Josephine Baker's shows.
[citation needed] Many of the earliest buildings and the tiny chapel of Saint Rita were designed by Michele Busiri Vici, the renowned architect working for the Aga Khan, 30 minutes along the coast at Porto Cervo.
In 1961 Raphael Neville was joined by Italian banker Dino Da Ponte and civil engineer, Roddy Wilson, and together they formed the Anglo-Italiana company, offering in total 140 hectares of land between the Fortress at Monte Altura and Punta Sardegna, for private sale and development.