For sale: Rome mansion restored by Texas princess up for auction

By FRANCESCO SPORTELLI and NICOLE WINFIELD
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ROME (AP) – A villa in central Rome with its only known ceiling mural painted by Caravaggio is being put up for auction by court order. Casino dell’Aurora, also known as Villa Ludovisi, was built in 1570 and has been in the Ludovisi family since the early 1600s. After Prince Nicolo Boncompagni Ludovisi died in 2018, the villa became the subject of of an inheritance dispute between his children from his first marriage and his third wife, a Texas-born princess, Rita Jenrette Bomcompagni Ludovisi. A judge recently ordered the mansion’s auction, scheduled for mid-January. The estimated value is 471 million euros ($533 million) and the starting bid is 353 million euros ($400 million).