In the latest in a long legal battle, police have escorted Princess Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi from her home at Rome’s Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi, or Villa Aurora, home to the world’s only known. Caravaggio ceiling mural—in accordance with a court-ordered eviction.
“It’s so illegal,” Princess Rita said in a Twitter video recorded shortly before his expulsion. “It’s incomprehensible what they are doing.”
In January, Judge Miriam Iappelli ruled that Princess Rita breached a court order barring her from tours of the villa and failed to properly maintain the 9,000 square foot property. The eviction notice cited damage to the railing of an exterior garden wall that had forced the closure of a public road.
Princess Rita said paid visits were needed to pay for upkeep of the 11-bedroom villa.
Texas-born Rita Carpenter, 73, became a European royal when she married Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi in 2009. The couple worked together on a comprehensive renovation of Villa Aurora, a 1570 hunting lodge that belonged to the family since 1621.
Caravaggio, Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto (circa 1597). Collection of the Villa Aurora.
But when Prince Nicolò died in 2018, it sparked a bitter row between Princess Rita and her three sons over the fate of the historic property.
In his will, Prince Nicolò made arrangements for Princess Rita to remain at the villa until her death. If sold, the proceeds were to be shared between her and her sons. An Italian court tried to resolve the issue with the sale of the villa, putting it on the market in October 2021 for 471 million euros ($546 million).
Villa Aurora now has did not find a buyer at six auctions, the most recent on April 6, although the asking price had dropped at 108.5 million euros ($118 million). The next sale, June 30 on the online auction site Fallco Aste, has an asking price of 145 million euros. The government will have 60 days to match the purchase price of any sale to a private buyer, according to Wanted in Rome.
The Villa Aurora, or Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi, in Rome. The property, which houses Caravaggio’s only ceiling mural, is up for auction to resolve an inheritance dispute, but has so far failed to find a buyer. Photo by Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images.
Princess Rita had hoped that a buyer would allow her to continue living in the villa even after the sale. Now that hope has been dashed.
“What did I do to deserve this? It’s a mystery to me – why are they so determined to get me out of here? Princess Rita told reporters as she left the scene with her five She pleaded her case to the end, speaking with police – who had hired a locksmith to gain access to the property – for two hours before finally agreeing to leave, according to the Italian newspaper. Corriere della Sera.
Meanwhile, his youngest son-in-law, Bante Boncompagni Ludovisi, watched triumphantly as the villa was “liberated”, telling the Guardian that his father had been “crazy” when he wrote his will, and that the villa rightfully belonged to him and his brothers.
“The princess is now literally homeless with a suitcase, making plans one night at a time,” Corey Brennan, professor of classics at Rutgers University in New Jersey and archivist of the villa, told Artnet News in a Twitter post. “She also tells me that her bank account has been frozen.”
Leaving her house, Princess Rita took only a few personal effects; the court ordered that the contents of the villa be “removed or destroyed”.
“Villa Ludovisi must first be closed and then renovated,” said Bante Boncompagni Ludovisi Il Gazzettino. “So it has to be emptied.”
The wedding photo of Princess Rita and Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi at Villa Aurora in Rome. Photo by Marco Mancini, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence.
As well as the house’s famous Caravaggio – a full frontal nude of the Roman god Jupiter with Neptune and Pluto – the villa houses some 25 oil paintings, including works attributed to Scipione Pulzone, Domenichino and Ottavio Leoni, as well as a number of antique statues, relief sculptures and portrait busts, Brennan told the art diary.
Formerly married to South Carolina Congressman John W. Jenrette Jr., who was convicted of accepting a bribe in the Abscam scandal, Princess Rita had past lives as a novelist, country singer, Playboy model and actress. To advance, TANNING reports, she intends to fight the deportation in an Italian court, and possibly the European Court of Human Rights.
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