Saturday, September 11, 2010

Brad and Angelina - Say 'Ciao Italia ! '

 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have added yet another historic and insanely high priced  European estate to their already bulging property portfolio.  In 2008 the perpetually peripatetic  ex-pats picked up a 1,000-acre estate in the south of France known as 'Chateau Miraval' and recent reports that the comely couple dropped some big bucks on a ruatic retreat in the scenic northeastern Italian countryside.

 It all started in the spring of 2010 when the Jolie-Pitt clan decamped to Italy  for a few months while Jolie filmed scences for her up-coming thriller "The Tourist." It wasn't long before the real estate crazy couple  became smitten with the rolling countryside in the valpolicello region just outside of Verona. They went house-hunting  and their search lead them to the itty-bitty Italian town  of San Pietro in Cariano and the 'Villa Costanza.
 The undeniably aristocratic but somewhat down on it's heels 'Villa Costanza' - also known as Villa Saibante-Mongo' - dates back to the early decades of the 17th century and was listed for sale with an A-listers only asking price of $32 million euros. Most reports say the couple coughed up somewhere in the neighborhood of $40 million for the fixer upper.
 According to the offical website of the Comune di San Pietro in Cariano , the U-shaped villa wraps around  a central courtyard guarded by two carved stone lions . A colonade runs around the interior of the courtyard that includes mythological statues , a well that dates back to 1623 and a lot of overgrown bushes.
 With 18,000 sq.ft. there's more than enough room for the always expanding Jolie-Pitt crew at the 'Villa Costanza,' which the couple  reportedly  plans to use as a vacation home. In addition to the 15 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms in the Palladian-style  villa, there are at least two gigantic and regal reception rooms  that feature antique  tile floors , coffered ceilings and walls covered with 17th-century frescos and panels painted with portraits  of historically notable people.
The 'Villa Contanza' includes 2 swimming pools , several spas, waterfalls, a cinema, gym, and stables. There's even a vineyard , which makes sense since the Valpolicello region is one of the centers of Italy's vincultural industry. Perhaps the Jolie-Pitts will start producing their own wine they can sell and donate the proceeds  to one of the many charities they support.
 Although there is some speculation that the Jolie-pitts have leased rather than purchased both the "Chateau Miraval' and the 'Villa Costanza ,' the couple do own a number of other swank homes including an historic mansion in New Orleans , a 5+ acre compound in Los Angeles ' Los Feliz neighborhood, a sleek house perched on a bluff  overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, another ocean front compound just north  of Sants Barbara , and close to 150,000 acres  of Cambodian Jungle with a traditional house on stilts that Jolie picked up prior to hooking up with Pitt and just after adopting her oldest child Maddox.
    Just asking : How much  real estate have you picked up lately ???? Personally, I purchased a gazebo for the backyard just last week. I'm not envious....Really, I'm not.

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