The sprawling Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi – which has been dubbed “the world’s most expensive home” – will be put up for sale again in April, with the base price of €471 million lowered by 20 per cent, according to the notary involved in the sale.
The auction was only open to those who can put up 10 per cent of the starting price of €353 million, but it was empty and didn’t attract rumoured buyers such as Bill Gates and the Sultan of Brunei.
The sale is the result of a bitter inheritance battle following the death in 2018 of Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi, whose family have owned the historic 2800-sqm property, known as Villa dell’Aurora, for the last 400 years.
The dispute is between the prince’s three sons from his first marriage and his third wife, the Texan-born Princess Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi, a 72-year-old former real estate broker and actor who once posed for Playboy who spent much of the last two decades renovating the property with her late husband.
The Rome tribunal ordered that the 11-bedroom villa be put up for auction, estimating its value at €471 million and stipulating that whoever purchases the property – protected under Italian cultural heritage laws – must spend a further €11 million on restoration costs.
Much of the huge price tag is attributed to the Caravaggio mural which has been valued at €310 million alone.
The oil on plaster work, the only known ceiling painting by the Baroque master, dates to 1597.
The allegorical scene featuring Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto was commissioned by the villa’s first owner, Cardinal Del Monte, for his alchemy room.
However the mural, which contains nudity, was subsequently covered up and was not rediscovered until 1968.
Located in central Rome between the Via Veneto and the Spanish Steps, the villa is also decorated with lavish frescoes by the Italian Baroque painter Guercino, including one in the main reception hall of the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, which gives the building its name, while its gardens include a statue of Pan attributed to Michelangelo.
An online petition in Italy urging the government to use EU funds to purchase Villa Aurora to “safeguard what is ours” has been signed by almost 40,000 people.
Under Italian law, the government can only do this after the sale to a private individual, and then within 60 days of the sale’s completion – and for the same price.
