The palace that inspired Pinocchio could be yours for $27 million
We could say Sydney has palatial properties just as spectacular as this 40-bedroom mansion, but then our noses would probably grow.
A far cry from poor old Geppetto’s humble home, this grand Tuscan palace has a long connection to the modest Italian woodcarver — it was where Carlo Collodi, author of The Adventures of Pinocchio spent much of his childhood.
Villa Garzoni, a 40-bedroom palace with fantastical gardens 65kms from Florence, has just been listed for 19 million euros, or $AUD27 million (far less than the hefty price tags several of Sydney’s luxury estates).
Lionard Luxury Real Estate, the brokers behind the historic sale, compare Villa Garzoni’s elaborate gardens to other tourist drawcards like Versailles and Fontainbleau in France and Schonbrunn in Vienna, Austria.
A spokesman from Lionard said the property’s connection to one of Italy’s most famous children’s tales is a link which brings in thousands of visitors each year.
“That is why we aim to find a foreign society, as we also did with other real estate holdings we have sold”, Lionard said.
“[Someone who] understands the potential and invests in improving and increasing the touristic demand linked to the fable of Pinocchio,” he said.
The tired baroque gardens date back to 1650 and where first imagined by Lucchese architect Diodati.
Collodi spent his childhood with his maternal family in the Tuscan province of Lucca. And as his mother, Angiolina Orzali, was the oldest daughter of Conti Garzoni’s farmer Collodi grew up around the noble family.
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