A 1570 Roman villa containing a treasure trove of art and history could be the most expensive home ever sold — except no one wants to buy it.
The Villa Aurora in Rome, Italy, went up for auction Tuesday following a bitter inheritance dispute with the staggering price tag of $534 million, eclipsing the most expensive single-family home ever sold up until that point: a fashionable Hong Kong neighborhood dwelling that went for $361 million in 2017. But there weren’t any takers for the Rome domicile at the online auction, which started the bidding at just under $401 million.
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Most of the villa’s value comes from a 1597 mural painted by the great Baroque artist Caravaggio in the original alchemy room of the owner, Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte. The mural is Caravaggio’s only work painted on a ceiling and depicts the Roman gods Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto. The immovable work accounts for $352 million of the house’s value.
“You have to have a billionaire; a millionaire is not enough for this,” said the villa’s current owner, Rita Boncompagni-Ludovisi. “It needs someone with deep pockets [who] doesn’t care if you have to spend $10 thousand on a water leak or something.”
The Caravaggio is only one of the treasures the house contains. One of the sculptures in the extensive gardens is attributed to Michelangelo, and the site sits on the ruins of an ancient Roman villa that may have belonged to Julius Caesar. The entryway’s ceiling is decorated with a fresco of Aurora, the goddess of dawn, by painter Guercino, and the staircase was designed by the same architect credited for the facade of the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica. In 2010, a box containing letters from French Queen Marie Antoinette, her husband King Louis XVI, and several popes was discovered in the house.
Del Monte sold the villa to the noble Ludovisi family in 1621, who has owned it for 400 years. It would still be in the Boncompagni-Ludovisi family if not for the inheritance battle between Rita Boncompagni-Ludovisi and her stepsons. The Texas-born actress, model, journalist, and real estate broker married Nicolo Boncompagni-Ludovisi, who in his will gave her the home until her death, stipulating the money from any sale should be split between her and his sons, she said.
But the sons disputed these claims after their father’s death in 2018. Because the family couldn’t reach an agreement, a judge decreed the house should be sold at auction.
“I would have been amazed if a buyer had come forward,” said Alessandro Zuccari of Rome’s Sapienza University, who helped value the villa. “The price is too high. Let’s see what happens in April, but I doubt anyone will come forward then — what would someone like Bill Gates do with Villa Aurora, especially with all the extra costs?”
In addition to Villa Aurora’s purchasing sum, auctioneers warned it needs another $11 million in repairs and restoration. It will go up for auction again in April at a 20% discount, reports said. The Italian government will have the opportunity to buy it at auction price if it doesn’t sell on the second attempt, but even the government may not be able to afford it.
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“I’d like the state to buy it, but I don’t know if it’s a possibility, as I don’t know if they have the money. That’s the problem,” Boncompagni-Ludovisi said. “And I’m not the only heir.”
