Breaking

Once, twice, sold? Rome villa with Caravaggio up for auction - Associated Press
Jan 18, 2022 1 min, 13 secs
ROME (AP) — A villa in Rome containing the only known ceiling painted by Caravaggio went on a court-ordered auction block Tuesday, thanks to an inheritance dispute pitting the heirs of one of Rome’s aristocratic families against their stepmother, a Texas-born princess.

Princess Rita Jenrett Boncompagni Ludovisi, formerly known as Rita Carpenter, woke up Tuesday in the Casino dell’Aurora surrounded by her dogs on what might have been the last day that her home of nearly two decades was actually hers.

I’ve rarely slept,” Boncompagni Ludovisi told The Associated Press a few hours before the auction began2

After Prince Nicolo Boncompagni Ludovisi died in 2018, the villa became the subject of an inheritance dispute between the children from his first marriage and his third wife, the San Antonio, Texas-born Princess Rita.

The villa, also known as Villa Ludovisi, was one of 42 lots up for court-ordered auction Tuesday.

The listing on the Rome tribunal’s auction site highlights the Caravaggio among the home’s other attributes, but notes the villa will need an estimated 11 million euros ($12.5 million) in renovations to comply with current building standards.

“I had always wanted to turn it into a museum, actually, but that’s not going to happen I presume,” Boncompagni Ludovisi said Tuesday as she took visitors on a tour of the home.

Boncompagni Ludovisi said would-be buyers had come to look at the property over the last several weeks, though she is not allowed to reveal their identities.

RECENT NEWS

SUBSCRIBE

Get monthly updates and free resources.

CONNECT WITH US

© Copyright 2024 365NEWSX - All RIGHTS RESERVED