Texan-born Italian princess to be evicted from Caravaggio palazzo in Rome
A Texan-born princess faces eviction from a historic palazzo in Rome that boasts the world’s only ceiling painting by Caravaggio after the property failed to sell at auction for the fifth time.
A judge has ordered Princess Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi to vacate the Villa Ludovisi, in the historic centre of the capital, within 60 days.
The sale of the 16th-century villa was ordered by an Italian court in 2021 after it ruled that an acrimonious dispute between the princess and her three stepchildren - the sons of her late husband, Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi – had become intractable.
When it was first put up for auction early last year, the asking price was €471 million (£417 million), earning it the title of “the world’s most expensive home”.
That figure has been slowly whittled down after the villa failed to sell during successive auctions and when it was offered for sale again on Thursday, the asking price was €145 million (£128 million).
But even at that price, the white-washed palazzo, which is packed with art including a priapic statue of the Greek god Pan that has been attributed to Michelangelo, failed to find any bidders.
Now a judge has ordered the princess to leave the property amid accusations, which she strenuously rejects, that she has failed to properly maintain the grounds and house.
Born Rita Carter in San Antonio, Texas, the princess worked as an actress in her youth, appearing in films such as Zombie Island Massacre and the television show Fantasy Island, where her character was called Nurse Heavenly.
“I’m so shocked. I’m feeling pretty stressed and I’m not sleeping well. I devoted the last 20 years of my life to this place and now they’re telling me to leave. My husband’s will gave me the right of use for life and my three stepsons know that,” the princess told The Telegraph.
She has instructed her lawyers to vigorously contest the eviction order.
She said she had digitally catalogued more than 100,000 historic documents kept at the villa, including a letter from Marie Antoinette to King Louis XVI of France.
The property is best known for its Caravaggio ceiling painting, which was painted by the hell-raising artist in 1597 and depicts the gods Pluto, Jupiter and Neptune gathered around a celestial orb decorated with zodiac signs.
The princess, whose storied past includes posing for Playboy and selling an office block in New York City to Donald Trump while working as an estate agent, said she understood that a sixth auction would be held in April. In the meantime, her future is uncertain.
“I have done all I can to assist with the sale of the villa. But it really should have been handled by Sotheby’s or Christie’s rather than an Italian tribunal.
“We will respond vigorously to the court order that I should leave,” she said.
Over the centuries, a pantheon of illustrious characters has passed through the villa, including Tchaikovsky, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James and Woody Allen, after he finished his 2012 film From Rome to Love.
The princess’s late husband, who died in 2018, counted among his ancestors seven popes, including Gregory XIII, who gave his name to the Gregorian calendar.
