Current location:entertainment >>
The abandoned villa in Italy where Edward VII's mistress, Alice Keppel liked to sun herself
entertainment53333People have gathered around
IntroductionIt's Queen Camilla's dream home – a sprawling palace on a sun-dappled hill in Tuscany with breathtak ...
It's Queen Camilla's dream home – a sprawling palace on a sun-dappled hill in Tuscany with breathtaking views over the city of Florence.
Camilla spent her childhood holidays here with her brother Mark and sister Annabel, playing hide and seek in the enormous frescoed rooms, and running free in the spacious grounds dotted with ancient statues.
The Villa dell'Ombrellino, once occupied by the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei in the 16th century, was built in 1372.
It was bought a hundred years ago with cash King Edward VII bequeathed his mistress Alice Keppel – Camilla's great-grandmother – and during Alice's lifetime the place became a magnet for passing European royalty.
Edward VII bought Villa dell'Ombrellino - with cash - for his mistress, Alice Keppel
A portrait of Alice Keppel, wife of George Keppel. Alice was Camilla's great-grandmother
Edward VII, centre, is pictured during a stay at Rufford House near Doncaster as a guest of Lady Savile in 1906. The King's mistress, Alice Keppel is standing fourth from left
Italian scientist, Galileo Galilei once occupied the house, which overlooks Florence
Three-hour lunches on the terrace were served by waves of servants, champagne corks popped and the gossip was only ever about people with a title.
'Ombrellino served Mrs Keppel's status fantasies,' recalled a friend – and indeed her life in this Italian paradise was nothing short of a royal court in exile.
Now, the vast building lies empty and forlorn, its gates rusting and its paint peeling – a white elephant of a palace which nobody wants. Nobody has lived there for 20 years, and nobody wants to.
It's on the market – and yours for a mere £23 million.
To this day, Camilla rues the fact her mother Rosalind Shand took the decision to sell it in 1972 – and on a visit to Florence a few years ago she told the Daily Mail's Rebecca English, 'It's such a tragedy. I feel I should start a campaign to buy it back.”'
This started a flurry of gossip in the ancient Italian city that Camilla was leaning on her husband Charles to add Ombrellino to his bulging property portfolio.
But it seems that Charles didn't cough up. And from that day to this, the place has remained forlorn and abandoned.
'Nobody wants to buy Villa dell'Ombrellino,' said a neighbour this week on the Bellosguardo hill where the property lies. 'The property is a commercial disaster. Nobody wants to live there.
'Downstairs there are huge rooms with high ceilings while upstairs are smaller rooms but fewer – two sitting rooms for every bedroom – and the whole thing is very impractical.'
The neighbour went on: 'The gardens were designed by the famous Cecil Pinsent and contained a collection of trees from all over the world.
'There were azaleas in huge terracotta pots – but the trees are gone and vandals destroyed the vases of azaleas.
'When Mrs Shand sold the property the building was leased to the famous Gran Caffè Doney, where the rich and famous used to gather in Florence, but it never moved there.
'Eventually the building was taken over by Deutsche Bank and the rooms were sublet as office space to various companies including Brooks Brothers.
'They hosted some conferences, events and receptions there – but eventually they shut the place up and it's remained empty for over 20 years.'
Camilla, on a visit to Florence a few years ago, bemoaned its loss: 'It's such a tragedy. I feel I should start a campaign to buy it back'
A view of the beautiful Tuscan landscape
After Alice Keppel's 1947 death the house was inherited by her second daughter Violet Trefusis, whose lesbian elopement with the writer Vita Sackville-West shocked London society in the 1920s and forced Mrs Keppel – already on the outs with the royal court because the current king, George V, disapproved of her – to move away from Britain.
Nonetheless Alice maintained a permanent suite at The Ritz hotel in London, with abundant adjacent staff quarters, and moved there permanently during the war.
It's said locally that Ombrellino was used for the torture of prisoners by the Germans after Italy's surrender in September 1943 and before August 1944, when Florence was liberated.
Violet Trefusis, second daughter of Alice Keppel, was famous as a writer and as lover of author and garden designer Vita Sackville-West
If it was, Mrs Keppel never knew.
She returned to Ombrellino in 1946 and it was there, a year later, that she died of cirrhosis of the liver.
Her long-suffering husband George who'd endured his wife's many money-spinning infidelities – quite apart from her long affair with the king - was so heartbroken he died there two months later.
So the house has a history. And now it's all yours, for just £23 million.
Tags:
Reprint:Friends are welcome to share on the Internet, but please indicate the source of the article when reprinting it.“Culture Craft news portal”。http://bermuda.downmusic.org/content-68a299922.html
Related articles
Lindor goes 0
entertainmentCLEVELAND (AP) — Three years later, Francisco Lindor finally came home.Walking back into Progressive ...
Read moreChinese premier stresses nurturing new drivers for high
entertainment(Xinhua) 09:32, October 14, 2023Chinese Premier Li Qiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of ...
Read morePress center opens for China's annual legislative, political consultative sessions
entertainment(Xinhua) 13:06, February 27, 2024People work at the press center for China's upcoming annual legisla ...
Read more
Popular articles
- Hundreds of hostages, mostly women and children, are rescued from Boko Haram extremists in Nigeria
- Food quality, safety underscored in China's new draft law
- CPPCC members interviewed before closing meeting of 2nd session of 14th CPPCC National Committee
- Jennifer Aniston, 55, and Reese Witherspoon, 48, both stun in chic all
- Vatican makes fresh overture to China, reaffirms that Catholic Church is no threat to sovereignty
- Craze for Masters gnomes grows. The little golf
Latest articles
Turkish Airlines resumes flights to Afghanistan nearly 3 years after the Taliban captured Kabul
Chinese premier calls for ensuring a good start for 2024 economic work
Twins place Carlos Correa on the 10
Leaders highlight goals, tasks in talks
How major US stock indexes fared Monday, 5/20/2024
Bayern ends 2
LINKS
- Third round of China Open canceled because of thunder and lightning. Event shortened to 54 holes
- London, meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Mayor Sadiq Khan wins historic third term
- Kim Kardashian wears long blonde wig for pouty selfie after surprising fans with bra size reveal
- King Charles bursts into laughter as high
- California Democrat is sent a 'DUI prevention kit' with a breathalyzer and non
- Warren Buffett draws thousands, but Charlie Munger will be missed
- Fans react with horror to Britney Spears' meltdown amid new fears for her safety
- The Canucks ready for all
- Laverne Cox dons fascinator and cleavage
- Beyonce added to French dictionary with publication listing her as 'American singer of R&B and pop'