No buyers again for Rome villa with Caravaggio fresco

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 7 - Casino dell'Aurora, a Rome villa that hosts the world's only surviving Caravaggio ceiling fresco, went up for auction for the second time on Thursday but again drew no bidders.
    Organizers said the offering price would now be lowered from the current reserve of 282 million euros and a fresh auction set up.
    The auction house said it would set another date for the auction of what has been billed as "the world's most expensive home" within 45 days.
    The procedure to sell the Renaissance villa, whose artistic jewels include Caravaggio's Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto mural, lasted until Thursday afternoon, when the auction was declared "deserted" again after an initial attempt to sell it in mid-January.
    The starting price at the first auction was 471 million euros and the reserve was set at 353.25 million.
    The villa is being auctioned off after the heirs of an Italian nobleman, Prince Nicolo' Boncompagni Ludovisi, failed to reach an agreement for the future of the residence following his death in 2018.
    His widow, 72-year-old Texas-born former actress, television journalist, and real estate executive Princess Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi, told Reuters that Bill Gates and a Qatari emir were among those to have expressed an interest in the 2,800-square-metre property.
    The princess, who once posed for Playboy, had failed to agree with the prince's children on who should get ownership of the villa.
    The lavish building also features five rooms with frescoes by Guercino, sculptures, statues and a splendid garden, although much of the structure needs a makeover.
    A petition has been launched via Change.org calling on Culture Minister Dario Franceschini to intervene and take out its option to buy the home and its artworks. (ANSA).