Rome villa with Caravaggio fails to sell, to be reauctioned

A Rome villa containing the only known ceiling painted by Caravaggio is going back on a court-ordered auction block after no apparent winning bids were entered

ROME -- A villa in Rome containing the only known ceiling painted by Caravaggio went on a court-ordered auction block Tuesday, thanks to an inheritance dispute pitting the heirs of one of Rome’s aristocratic families against their stepmother, a Texas-born princess.

Princess Rita Jenrett Boncompagni Ludovisi, formerly known as Rita Carpenter, woke up Tuesday in the Casino dell’Aurora surrounded by her dogs on what might have been the last day that her home of nearly two decades was actually hers.

An online auction organized by the Rome tribunal began at 3 p.m. sharp and closed a short time later without a winner. The starting bid had been set at 353 million euros ($400 million), and the villa just off the famous Via Veneto was assigned a court-appraised value of 471 million euros ($533 million).

Without a winning bid, a new auction will be held in several weeks with a lower starting bid.