Once, twice, sold? Rome villa with Caravaggio up for auction

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — A Rome villa containing the only known ceiling painted by Caravaggio is set to go on a court-ordered auction block. The Casa dell’Aurora is being sold at auction on Tuesday thanks to an inheritance dispute pitting the heirs of one of the Italian capital’s aristocratic families against their step-mother, a Texas-born princess. The starting bid is set at 353 million euros ($400 million), and the villa just off the famous Via Veneto has an value of 471 million euros ($533 million). The house has been in the Ludovisi family since the early 1600s. The Caravaggio graces an otherwise nondescript room. The ceiling mural depicts Jupiter, Pluto and Neptune.