Italian design doyenne Donatella Versace has added a new masterpiece to her collection: a US $5.32 million, 1,400-sqm confection on Lago Maggiore, with 50 rooms spread across four floors. Acquired by the Mondadori publishing dynasty in the 1920s, Villa Mondadori has welcomed guests including Walt Disney and Ernest Hemingway over the years, who made the most of the villa’s 20 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms and enjoyed their hosts’ hospitality in the billiard room and library.
Beautiful gardens meander along the lakeshore, where two docks await visitors and a picturesque swimming pool overlooking the water will surely host some of the most fabulous parties on the lake when Versace has finished remodelling. Real estate firm Engel & Völkers Lago Maggiore says that property around the lake remains popular among affluent buyers, 75 per cent of whom came from abroad in 2018.