Half a billion euros to become owners of Villa Certosa. The historic summer residence of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a private place at the center of public life, ends up on the market, with the agreement of the five children of the founder of Forza Italia, who passed away last June at the age of 86.
According to the sources of the City newspaper, the possible buyers include billionaires from the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India and the United States. Dils will contact potential buyers directly and there will be no public advertising of the property. Visits are expected to begin in February.
While his son, Pier Silvio, explained Mediaset’s strategies and declined the flattery of politics by celebrating the “seriousness” of Antonio Tajani, the Financial Tmes wrote about the highly symbolic move in the context of the change of hands of the inheritance which seems to continue without shocks among the five children of the former Knight.
The dossier was passed to the Milanese real estate company Dils, whose CEO Giuseppe Amitrano did not comment to the City newspaper. Furthermore, at the end of 2021, the H14 holding led by Luigi Berlusconi had entered – together with other scions, from the Doris to the Marzotto – into Gva Redilco, with a “long-term” perspective. The same company that within a year would change its name to become Dils.
Bought at the end of the 1980s, the 68-room, 110-hectare villa, with amphitheatre, swimming pools, tennis courts, various gardens equivalent to eighty football pitches, has hosted people of the caliber of George W Bush and Tony Blair. Vladimir Putin was there several times in the early years of the new century. How can we forget the photos of the scandal of the former Czech Prime Minister Topolanek, sunbathing like his mother did.
The trial should get underway in February. The latest official appraisal valued the property at around 260 million in 2021, but it would be a bar that can be surpassed on the market. Several times in the past, there had been talk of a possible sale: from the Arab Emirates in 2009 to a Spanish entrepreneur the following year, always in the range of 450-500 million euros.
The disposal of the real estate jewel of the Berlusconi heritage, held largely under the Idra company, would also respond to cost management logic. Maintaining all the villas in the portfolio exceeds 20 million euros, with the electricity bill alone reaching 1.3 million in 2022.
Other properties would instead be destined to remain in the family: Marina Berlusconi, president of Fininvest and first daughter, is linked to Villa Campari on Lake Maggiore, while Barbara should take over full ownership of Villa Macherio from her brothers and sisters. Arcore is also destined to remain in the family.