Greek island once owned by Aristotle Onassis to be turned into luxury resort by Russian billionaire 

An aerial view of Skorpios

Credit: Stuart Clarke /Rex

A tiny Greek island that was owned by the shipping magnate and playboy Aristotle Onassis is to be turned into a luxury resort by a Russian billionaire.

Skorpios, which lies in the Ionian Sea off the west coast of Greece, was bought by the Greek tycoon in 1962 for the equivalent of about £10,000.

Six years later, it hosted his wedding to Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of the late President John F Kennedy, who had been assassinated in 1963.

It was sold by the Onassis family in 2013 to Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian businessman who made his fortune in the potash industry.

After years of paperwork, Greece’s government, which is keen to attract foreign investment as the country emerges from a decade of austerity and economic crisis, has given approval to plans to turn the 200-acre island into a luxury resort.

The €165 million project, which is scheduled to be completed by 2024, includes the building of a five-star hotel, a spa, villas and an amphitheatre.

There will be a new wastewater treatment plant as well as a vineyard and an extensive vegetable garden to supply the hotel. An existing harbour will be expanded so that it can accommodate luxury yachts.

Aristotle Onassis and Jackie Kennedy after their marriage on the island of Skorpios in 1968

Credit: AP

“The basic idea is to create a ‘green’ island with the greatest possible use of its existing landscape, structure and incomparable beauty,” Mr Rybolovlev said last year.

“Our family’s goal is to create the first luxury accommodation complex in Greece, located on a private island.”

It will be “unique” in the Mediterranean. “At the same time, all works are being done very carefully and in complete harmony with the environment,” he said.

Permission for the resort was signed off by ministers for the environment, tourism and investment on Dec 31.

Skorpios, which lies just off the much larger island of Lefkada, was once the scene of lavish parties thrown by Mr Onassis. When he died in 1975, he was buried on the island and it passed to his daughter, Christina.

She died of a heart attack aged 37 in 1988, and Skorpios was bequeathed in turn to her daughter, Athina Onassis Roussel, the sole surviving heir to the Onassis fortune. It was she who decided to sell the island to Mr Rybolovlev for a reported $153 million.

The Russian businessman has a net worth of nearly $7 billion, with his fortune coming from Uralkali, Russia’s biggest producer of potassium fertiliser, according to Forbes. He bought the island on behalf of one of his two daughters, Ekaterina.

The island lies in the Ionian Sea, off the west coast of Greece

Credit: Yann Arthus-Bertrand/Corbis

Once a barren landscape, it was brought to life by the dozens of species of tree that Mr Onassis planted.

In 1971, an Italian paparazzo managed to take photos of Jackie Onassis sunbathing naked and practising yoga on Skorpios.

Until then, the former First Lady, who was one of the world’s most photographed women, had been able to escape the glare of publicity on the island.

Settimio Garritano, the photographer, revealed a decade ago how he managed to gain access to Skorpios by befriending a local and then disguising himself as a gardener.