Molotov cocktail scorches Russian couple's villa entrance

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 11 - A Molotov cocktail scorched the entrance to a villa owned by a Russian couple in coastal southern Tuscany on Sunday night, police said Monday.
    The fire bomb started a blaze at the entrance to Villa Pontello at Castiglioncello near Livorno, owned by a 39-year-old Russian builder who restructured the building and who spends time there with his wife during their holidays.
    Police said the attack, which caused slight damage, may have been a copy cat incident after similar incidents involving Russian property in Italy after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
    The builder, who is said to have various construction and property assets in Italy, and his wife were not in the property when the attack happened.
    He has another villa which he is restructuring at Castiglioncello.
    Neighbours who were alarmed by the flames called police.
    The villa which was attacked bears the name of the Pontellos, a family of Florentine building entrepreneurs who owned soccer club Fiorentina in the 1980s and '90s.
    The family sold the villa to a professional in the early 2000s, who sold it on to the Russian builder about eight years ago, reportedly for some seven million euros.
    Villa Pontello borders Villa Godilonda, a seaside residence once owned by the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio.
    A fire broke out overnight on April 5-6 at a Lake Como villa at Menaggio belonging to Russian television presenter Vladimir Solovyev, a major supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
    The villa has been seized by the Italian authorities as part of the sanctions imposed on Russia following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
    Arson is suspected as tyres were used to start the fire, sources said.
    The blaze was quickly put out by firefighters, the sources added.
    Someone wrote 'V. Solovyev killer' and 'no war' in red paint on a gate, daubed red paint on the walls of another villa, and put red paint in the swimming pool, Carabinieri said.
    The anchorman had recently fulminated on air against the seizure of his three villas on the lake worth some eight million euros.
    One of the other villas was also vandalised. (ANSA).