Scores of crumbling state-owned historic villas and palazzos in Italy are to be leased out for use as hotels - on condition that they are restored to their former glory.
The first to be offered is the Villa Tolomei, a crumbling Renaissance jewel at Marignolle in the Tuscan hills just outside Florence, which is to become an “elegant super de luxe hotel”. The terms of the lease – under a scheme that emulates the Spanish system of paradors – are to be published in the next two weeks.
The successful bidder will have to undertake to restore the once magnificent villa to a specified standard. Companies will have to prove that they have experience in running high-quality hotels, according to the Agenzia del Demanio, the agency for state-owned property, which says that it seeks “public advantage as well as private profit”.
The Villa Tolomei presents a sorry sight. A grand country house of 14th-century origin, it stands in 70 acres (28 hectares) of parkland, with outhouses and a tower once part of a medieval monastery.
The villa was owned by the Tolomei family of Tuscan aristocrats until the end of the 19th century, when the family fell on hard times. It was used for a while by the Carabinieri, but has been empty for decades. Its grounds are overgrown, while inside plasterwork hangs from collapsing frescoed ceilings.
Officials said they hoped that the villa would be under restoration “by the end of the year”, becoming the first in a chain.
The Agenzia del Demanio owns 15,000 properties, ranging from army barracks and forts to castles, country estates, palazzos and villas, many of which are scheduled for redevelopment. About 2,500 of them are rated as having “particular historic and artistic value”. The previous centre-right Government led by Silvio Berlusconi proposed selling a number off to raise revenue to plug Italy’s budget deficit but backed down after a public uproar, with conserva-tionists accusing him of “selling off Italy’s family jewels”.
The centre-left Government of Romano Prodi has devised a scheme under which the State would maintain ownership but hand the properties over to the private sector on 50-year leases.
Other properties considered for the scheme include Castel dell’ Ovo in the bay at Naples, which is 16th-century but has Roman origins: the 16th-centu-ry Fortezza da Basso in Florence, built to a design by Antonio da Sangallo with bastions, parapets and secret passageways; Forte Bravetta, a 19th-century fort in Rome used during the Nazi occupation for executions; and the Venice Arsenal, once the dockyard for the Venetian Republic