ROME.- After comings and goingsVilla Certosa, the famous and extravagant Sardinian mansion of the late magnate and politician Silvio Berlusconithrough which politicians of all kinds paraded, was finally sold.
According to the Corriere della Serawhich cited sources close to the Cavaliere family, the property was acquired by the Al-Thani, the royal family of Qatarby 350 million euros. This is a figure lower than the market estimate of approximately 500 million euros. Berlusconi’s heirs decided to put the property up for sale after the former prime minister’s death on June 12, 2023.
The Al-Thani already have a consolidated presence in Sardiniawhere they have important investments that range from the Costa Smeralda to the Mater Hospital in Olbia.
The operation would have been carried out through Constellation Hotels Holding Ltd. SCAa Luxembourg-based company that represents one of the main international real estate vehicles linked to the interests of the Qatari financial community and, in particular, the Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thaniformer Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar.
With details kitsch like a fake volcano, an amphitheater or a hidden private port worthy of a James Bond movie, Villa Certosa It was always a legendary place. And exaggerated: bigger than the Vatican, with its enormous park, seven outdoor pools, spa, seven guest houses, scattered cabins, soccer fields, golf courses, children’s attractions, medicinal garden, Neptune’s Grotto, helipad, nuclear bunker and thalassotherapy area.
Invited by the magnate and former premier, who wanted to dazzle them, they stopped by from their friend Vladimir Putin until the then American president George W. Bushthe British premier Tony Blairthe French Nicolas Sarkozythe Spanish José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and José María Aznarthe Egyptian Hosni Mubarak and the czech Mirek Topolanekremembered for having appeared in photos on the edge of a pool in his underwear, surrounded by half-naked girls.
Villa CertosaIn fact, it was also the reign of transgression, the mansion of exaggerated luxury, scandals, forbidden parties and the symbol of “Berlusconism”a time that is left behind.
The history of Villa Certosa began in the 1970s. Cavaliere, then a rising businessman, liked that land that was then called “Villa Monastero”located in Punta Lada, Porto Rotondo, an enclave of the magnificent Costa Smeralda, which overlooks the blue sea of the Gulf of Marinella. Its owner was Flavio Carbonione of the most controversial figures in recent Italian history, convicted in the 1980s for the bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano, although acquitted for the murder of its director, the “banker of God”Roberto Calvi, and later convicted of belonging to the P3 Masonic Lodge.
It was precisely when Carboni, Berlusconi’s business partner on that stretch of the Sardinian coast, was in prison for the Banco Ambrosiano crash and was going through serious financial problems, that he decided to sell that dream property.
After purchasing the also called “Versailles of Porto Rotondo”Berlusconi renovated it through his trusted architect, Gianni Gamondo.
Under your directionthe property was then expanded progressively and obsessively until it reached 4500 square meterswith 126 rooms and a park of about 120 hectares. There he not only invited colleagues from the world of international politics to impress. Nobody forgets when in 2004 he went out to eat in Porto Rotondo with Tony and Cherie Blair, very tanned, with a pirate-type scarf on his head – probably because he had undergone a hair transplant – and a white tunic, to the delight of cameramen and photographers. He also used to invite Italian politicians, actors, actresses, singers and footballers.
Although what is most remembered about Villa Certosa is the scandal of the summer of 2006, when the newspaper The Country published photos taken the previous year by the Sardinian paparazzo Antonello Zappaduin which girls in tailless and topless clothes and a naked man on the edge of a pool were seen: the aforementioned Mirek Topolanek.
In the era of parties “bunga-bunga” with minors, which led to Veronica Lariohis second wife and mother of his three youngest children, to publicly denounce him and ask for a divorce, Berlusconi – the protagonist of dozens of judicial proceedings – was also investigated for abuse of power for transporting models invited to a mythical New Year’s Eve party held in Villa Certosa on military flights.
After those seasons of excesses, with Berlusconi already away from political power, without his harem, controlled by his last partners and increasingly older, Villa Certosa once again became a quieter place.
