The scrap over a £400m Italian pile
Feuding Italian aristocrats are making Succession look like child’s play
Soaring energy bills and the rising cost of living has made my bank account look increasingly threadbare. There is a silver lining, however – at least there won’t be much left for my relatives to squabble over when I die. The same cannot be said for the estate of the late Italian aristocrat Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi. The fighting over his legacy has already been said to make the fictional family feuding in the TV drama Succession “look like child’s play” and has forced the family’s £400m palace onto the auction block, says Peter Conradi in The Times.
The contest pits Princess Rita, his third wife, against her late husband’s three sons from his first marriage. Relations between the prince and his sons had already begun to deteriorate when he was alive. They took a turn for the worse when the prince decided to reduce their share of his inheritance in a dispute over a debt. This poisoned relations between them to such an extent that two of them snubbed their father’s funeral; the oldest, Francesco, was in jail at the time over an unrelated matter. The difficulties have escalated since then.
Rita lived an “intriguing” life before she met Nicolò, says Angela Giuffrida in The Guardian. She was married to the US congressman John Jenrette until he was convicted of taking a $50,000 bribe; she then went on to act in several films and mini-series, studied at Harvard Business School, and wrote three books. She also became a real-estate broker before crossing paths with Nicolò, whom she married in 2009. The prince wrote in his will that she had “the right to stay in the property for the rest of her life and, if sold, the proceeds were to be split between her and his sons”.
A toxic legal wrangle
The sons weren’t too happy about this arrangement, and following a “toxic legal wrangle” a judge ordered the property to be auctioned off – and what a property it is. It is located on the site of what was once the home of Julius Caesar and includes a sculpture by Michelangelo. Its spiral staircase was designed by the baroque architect Carlo Maderno, who also designed the facade of St Peter’s Basilica. But all these riches pale in comparison to Caravaggio’s Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto mural, which was commissioned by the villa’s first owner, Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte, to adorn the ceiling of his laboratory.
Still, both sides in the dispute will have to wait a little while longer before they can get their hands on any money as the first auction in January failed to get any offers, says Nell Clark on America’s National Public Radio. Despite the artistic and architectural riches on offer, and the potential for further “extraordinary” archaeological discoveries in the grounds, the price, at $538m, may simply have been too high. Indeed, although the starting bid has recently been cut by up to 25%, any owner will need “deep pockets” to cover the $12.5m cost of extensive restoration, as well as more basic maintenance. In short, mere millionaires need not apply. This is a project for billionaires only.
“The price, at $538m, may have been too high, but any owner will need deep pockets to cover the cost of restoration. In short, mere millionaires need not apply”