You Can Buy Michelangelo’s Tuscan Villa for $8.3 Million

It's cheaper than the former homes of Andy Warhol and Leonardo.

Villa Michelangelo. Photo: Handsome Properties.

In the market for some pricey real estate with an art world connection? Why settle for Jackson Pollock’s West Village apartment or a Nolita three-bedroom with original Jean-Michel Basquiat graffiti when you could pick up Michelangelo‘s Tuscan villa from Handsome Properties for just $8.3 million?

La Torre de Michelangiolo has been quietly on the market since July 2014, reports Hyperallergic. At almost 13,000 square feet, the eight-bedroom, seven-bath, three-structure building complex also includes a large garden with 200 olive trees, and an oil mill and well that both date to the Renaissance. A three-story home is accompanied by a smaller guesthouse and a one-room outbuilding.

Villa Michelangelo. Photo: Handsome Properties.

Villa Michelangelo.
Photo: Handsome Properties.

Pricewise, the villa is actually a pretty great deal given its ties to the Renaissance master. Frank Stella’s former studio, for instance, sold for $22 million last month, while Andy Warhol’s Hamptons estate was on the market for a whopping $85 million over the summer. Even Leonardo da Vinci‘s oceanfront home cost quite a bit more when it was up for sale with a $14.6 million price tag in July.

Of course, when Michelangelo first bought the property in 1549, with the assistance of his nephew Leonardo, he spent just 2,281 florins, the equivalent of about $319,340 today.

Villa Michelangelo. Photo: Handsome Properties.

Villa Michelangelo.
Photo: Handsome Properties.

Michelangelo moved throughout Italy during his career, completing artistic commissions in Florence, Bologna, and Rome, so it is unclear how much time he would have actually spent relaxing at this Tuscan retreat, even as his health failed in his old age. The artist died in Rome in 1564 at age 88.

The building was originally built as a fortification, and belonged to the Buonarroti family until 1867. The current owner has lived there since 1973, and the villa was most recently renovated 20 years ago. It maintains much of the original architecture, with gorgeous stone walls, wooden floors, and multiple fireplaces.


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