Sunday Has Flown Round Once Again,

and as usual the Sunday newspapers will be full of homes of the glamorous, (or infamous!),

photograph Goggle, homes that go for so many millions, each week it seems a new record for the most expensive house is broken, so where is and how much is the most expensive house in the world? well that apparently is it above, located on a hill in the heart of Rome, Villa Aurora is widely regarded as the world’s most expensive house, the 30,000-square-foot, 16th-century villa is located a short walk from the famous Via Veneto, home to some of Rome’s best hotels, and close to the iconic Piazza di Spagna and the ancient Porta Pinciana. Originally a hunting lodge, the villa is all that remains of a 30-hectare complex owned by Italy’s Ludovisi noble family, who gave the country numerous diplomats, patrons of the arts, and even a Pope. Today, Villa Aurora finds itself at the heart of a legal battle and an Italian court has ruled that it should be sold at auction, “You have to have a billionaire; a millionaire is not enough for this,” Princess Rita Boncompagni-Ludovisi, the villa’s current occupant, told NPR. “It needs someone with deep pockets, who doesn’t care if you have to spend 10 thousand on a water leak or something.” So what makes this house so expensive? It is because of this,

Artefact / Alamy Stock Photograph, on the celling of one of the rooms there is the only ceiling mural ever painted by the Italian Baroque old master Caravaggio, featuring Jupiter, Neptune and Plato, the painting itself is estimated to have a value of €310 million. It was reportedly painted in 1597 and only discovered sometime in the 1960s, to say you would have to have deep pockets is an understatement, earlier this year the house went to auction, the the bidding began at €471 million, there were no takers, as mention in the article you could say you are buying a painting with the house thrown in! 

but in later news the price has been knocked down, the reserve for the Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi, better known as Villa Aurora, has been slashed by about 20 per cent to €376 million, the auction started with an opening bid of €282 million, again no takers, and guess what, it failed to sell at the third auction, back to the story, it is up for auction again, for the fourth time, it will soon be in the bargain basement! for the full history of this house have a look here, it is a fascinating read, and unless I am reading this incorrectly it did not sell for the fourth time, I guess there are no art lovers out there with deep pockets!