Caravaggio’s fresco raised the price of a Roman villa to half a billion euros

Caravaggio Mural FRIENDS: INSTAGRAM

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Located in the center of Rome on Via Lombardy 42 – Casino del Aurora, as the real name of the Roman house, is

sung in the works of

Goethe, Stendhal, Gogol

and Gabriele d’Annunzio. If today you walk in the area of ​​the expensive Via Veneto and Via Aurora, where it is located, and try to see the precious villa, you will see that it is almost hidden behind high stone walls.

Villa Aurora, as it is also called, is located on a hill next to the Villa Borghese park, but only its upper part can be seen from the outside. The real jewel in it is deeply hidden from view – the fresco by Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio. It alone is estimated at at least 310m euros.

The history of its creation is curious. At the end of the 16th century, Villa Ludovisi, named after the noble owner, was bought by Cardinal Francesco del Monte, Caravaggio’s patron. The cardinal, who is the ambassador of the Medici, hired the artist who had just arrived in Rome to paint a scientific office. At the time, Del Monte, who was addicted to alchemy, had a distillation room in his villa.

The artist paints with his brush an alchemical scene, which represents different phases of the transformation of lead into gold. In the foreground are Jupiter, Neptune and the scandalously naked Pluto.

According to some researchers, Caravaggio painted it by looking in a mirror at himself. It can be seen between Pluto’s legs

dog with 3 heads that

should be

represents Cerberus,

but in reality it looks like a much more peaceful animal. Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto are presented as allegories of “elements with the globe of the world in the middle”. The fresco dates from 1597.

The work is unique in its kind because it is practically the only one of its kind in the world. And all this will be able to enjoy the new owner of the villa. It was previously owned by Prince Niccolo Boncompani Ludovisi, who died in 2018 and has two popes of his kind.

The villa for sale occupies 2800 square meters and is located on two identical floors. They consist of a central hall and 4 side rooms, as well as a tower with a panoramic terrace overlooking Rome. Many of the rooms are frescoed by Guercino.

The villa is named Aurora because of the allegory of day and night. Aurora’s carriage was painted by another famous artist – Guercino. Aurora is presented at a time when she is scattering flowers around while on the chariot. An angel with a garland of roses is depicted above. It is believed that this scene is related to the existing competition between two noble families. The aurora with the chariot was depicted at the request of Cardinal Ludovisi, as he was dying of envy because of a similar fresco by the artist Guido Reni at the Casino del Aurora in the Quirinale Palace. It was owned by Cardinal Palavicini.

Villa Aurora used to have a collection of precious ancient statues. In 1901, the Italian state bought from her more than 100 sculptures, placed in the Roman National Museum in the Baths of Diocletian. Some were later moved to Palazzo Altemps. Among them is a statue attributed to Michelangelo.

In the middle of the 19th century, the Casino del Aurora was restored by Prince Antonio Boncompani Ludovisi. The work on it was entrusted to the architect Carlo Nicola Carnevali – the same who works on the “Teatro Argentina” located today in the center of Rome, as well as on the luxurious Hotel de Rusi, where many Hollywood stars now stay. At the same time, the ancient vineyards and gardens belonging to the villa were sacrificed due to the construction in the area at that time. Because of it, many statues and buildings were destroyed, and trees were destroyed to give rise to a modern luxury neighborhood and streets. Only the Casino del Aurora and the so-called Palazzo Grande – it fits into a building that was practically rebuilt by Rodolfo Boncompani Ludovisi. It was named Palazzo Margherita in honor of the Italian Queen Margarita of Savoy, great-grandmother of Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The American embassy is located in this building today.

Offers for Villa Aurora, as the Casino del Aurora is called today, will not open until January 18, 2022.

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