the auction of this historic monument is controversial

For sale, bourgeois house. 2,800 m², forty rooms, garden on one hectare, bet at price: half a billion euros. A princess lives here, she is the last wife of an Italian prince, himself a descendant of two Popes. If the house has such a value, it is because at the top of the small elevator, in a space between two living rooms, there is a masterpiece, which in truth few people know, even in Rome, and which dates from 1597. The ceiling painted by Caravaggio “represents Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, and it is unique in the world”, describes the owner, Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi.

This ceiling at only him is estimated at more than 300 million euros, it is classified as a historical monument. The buyer must not only be rich, but also an art lover. The lawyer in charge of the auction has no doubt about the interest of this sale. For the owner of the villa Aurora, the identity of the buyer does not matter, if he regularly agrees to open the house to visitors. “I hope that the future owner will have a deep sense of history, and the preservation of art”, she says. On the Internet, a petition signed by 30,000 people asks the government to use European funds to make an offer on Tuesday afternoon.