An era ends with the sale of one of the most iconic residences of former Prime Minister and entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi, who passed away on 12 June 2023. Villa Certosa, the legendary summer residence of the Berlusconi family in Porto Rotondo, on the Costa Smeralda, scene of some of the most compelling chapters in Italian political history, officially changes ownership. The deal would now be a done deal.
According to advance reports from a Fininvest spokesperson, Immobiliare Idra, the company that manages the family’s real estate properties, has accepted the binding offer presented by Constellation hotels holding, a Luxembourg investment company and real estate arm of the Al Thani family, the royal dynasty of Qatar headed by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim.
An agreement that not only represents one of the most impressive real estate sales ever recorded on the European market, but marks the dismantling of “summer Berlusconism”, transforming the Knight’s private palace into a precious asset of the Middle Eastern portfolio.
The financial details of the agreement
Negotiations for the sale of the Sardinian estate continued for months amid rumours, denials and the interest of large international hotel chains and eastern tycoons. The final figure of the agreement stood at a net value of 350 million euros.
Although the initial starting price and the demands of the Berlusconi heirs fluctuated around 500 million euros, the agreed price still offers an astonishing capital gain compared to the latest official technical appraisal on the property, which estimated its value at around 259 million. The check written by the Al Thanis allows the Berlusconi family to liquidate a monumental property just before the start of the summer season, freeing themselves from imposing and prohibitive management costs.
The story: a microcosm of power, excess and geopolitics
Purchased by Silvio Berlusconi at the end of the 1980s from the banker Gianni Fabbri, Villa Certosa was progressively transformed into a true ultra-luxury citadel in Punta Lada. More than a simple holiday home, the estate was the stage for international politics and Italian power for thirty years.
The property is spread over 120 hectares and includes: a central body and several outbuildings for a total of 126 rooms; swimming pools, SPA, football and tennis courts and a Greco-Roman style amphitheatre; a botanical park with thousands of rare plants, artificial lakes; a highly armored underground bunker with direct access to the sea.
The greats of the Earth such as George W. Bush, Tony Blair and even Vladimir Putin have passed through Villa Certosa, but the Sardinian residence was also the scene of the social news and media scandals that marked the last years of Silvio Berlusconi.
The Al Thani galaxy and the sheikh Hamad bin Jassim
Behind the transaction, formally conducted through Constellation Hotels Holding, is the figure of the sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thaniknown in international financial circles as “HBJ”. Sheikh, a member of the Qatari royal dynasty, was an influential former prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar from 2007 to 2013.
The Al Thani have governed Qatar for over 150 years and manage, through the QIA (Qatar Investment Authority) sovereign fund, assets estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars. The purchase of Villa Certosa is not a bolt from the blue, but is part of a deep-rooted strategy that has seen the royal dynasty shopping in Gallura for some years. The royals already control the most prestigious luxury hotels on the Costa Smeralda, including the Cala di Volpe and the Romazzino, first-level healthcare infrastructures, such as the Mater Olbia Hospital, and important real estate and tourism assets in the nearby Porto Cervo sector.
It remains to be seen whether Villa Certosa will be kept intact as a private residence of the royal family or whether, following the modus operandi of Constellation Hotels, it will be partially integrated into the elite tourism circuits, on the model of other exclusive properties of the chain.
