Princess in villa with unique Caravaggio faces eviction

FILE PHOTO: Princess Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi poses for a photograph below Caravaggio's only ceiling mural inside Villa Aurora, in Rome, Italy, November 16, 2021. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

A U.S.-born princess who lives in a Roman villa featuring the world's only known mural by Italian baroque artist Caravaggio said on Friday she faced eviction from the unique property at the centre of a raging inheritance battle.

A court in Rome served an eviction notice to Princess Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi after part of an outside wall of the residence, known as Casino dell'Aurora, collapsed, forcing the closure of a nearby street.

FILE PHOTO: Princess Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi poses for a photograph outside Villa Aurora, a building that boasts Caravaggio's only ceiling mural, which is up for auction in January with an opening bid set at 471 million euros, in Rome, Italy, November 16, 2021. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

Boncompagni Ludovisi told Reuters she had been given 60 days to vacate the property, saying was "stunned" by the decision and would definitely appeal.

She adding that she believed the court's decision had been influenced by the fact she had offered unauthorised paying tours of the mansion, which is under court oversight as part of a judicial process to sell it at auction.

She said the tours were organised to raise money for maintenance.

FILE PHOTO: Princess Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi poses for a photograph outside Villa Aurora, a building that boasts Caravaggio's only ceiling mural, in Rome, Italy, November 16, 2021. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

The Casino dell'Aurora was put under the hammer in January 2022, with a minimum bidding price of around 350 million euros ($380 million), making it potentially one of the most expensive homes in the world.

That auction attracted no bids, and the four that followed also failed, despite a progressively lower asking price. A fifth auction closed on Thursday with a minimum bidding price of 108.5 million euros.

Princess Boncompagni Ludovisi, a former actress, Playboy model, ex-wife of a U.S. congressman and New York real estate broker, married the late Prince Nicolo Boncompagni Ludovisi, scion of one of Europe's most aristocratic families, in 2009.

FILE PHOTO: A general view shows a room, with frescoes on the ceiling by Guercino, inside Villa Aurora, a building that boasts Caravaggio's only ceiling mural, in Rome, Italy, November 16, 2021. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

Following the prince's death in 2018, she has been locked in an inheritance feud with her three stepsons that is meant to be resolved with the sale of the 2,800-square metre villa that has been her home.

Its 2.75-metre-wide Caravaggio painted ceiling, commissioned in 1597 and valued at 310 million euros, depicts an allegorical scene with the gods Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto representing the transformation of lead into gold.

($1 = 0.9260 euros)

(Reporting by Federico Maccioni and Alvise Armellini, editing by Gavin Jones and Hugh Lawson)