If you are looking for a palazzo for a princess, a villa for a viscount or a
mansion for a mogul, then look no further. La Falconara, a sumptuous
three-storey villa in Taormina, on the northeast tip of Sicily, has it all:
a prime mountainside location with breathtaking views of the Bay of Naxos
and Mount Etna, 13.3 acres of cascading gardens, with a Greek temple
dedicated to Pan, a Roman tomb and a tunnel leading to the Greco-Roman
amphitheatre in the centre of the village. Oh, and its own Anglican chapel.
Just in case this is not enough to tempt a potential buyer, connections to
Horatio Nelson, a couple of generations of British royalty and the late Shah
of Iran are thrown in for good measure.
La Falconara, on sale for £8.8m, was the vision of Alexander Nelson Hood, the
great-grandnephew of the hero of Trafalgar, and it was his ancestor’s string
of victories against the French and Spanish fleets that indirectly led to
the villa’s construction. As reward for his help in retaking Naples in 1799,
Nelson was made Duke of Bronte and granted lands on the island, in Bronte
and Maniace, by Ferdinand, ruler of Naples and Sicily. A grateful Britain,
meanwhile, gave Nelson an annual pension of £5,000 and a lump sum of £90,000
with which to buy an estate.
Nelson died in 1805, at the Battle of Trafalgar, without ever having taken up
residence on the island, however. He did not have a legitimate heir, so his
fortune and titles passed to his brother William, then down through
William’s heirs.
By 1904, the lands and titles, including the Sicilian holdings, had passed to
Nelson Hood, who decided he wanted a property closer to the sea, in a warmer
position. Hood found the Taormina site, just below the town’s main road, and
set about designing the property himself.
It took a decade to build. Each floor spans about 350 square metres; there are
six bedrooms, six bathrooms, several reception rooms and grand marble
staircases befitting Hood’s social standing as the senior British resident
in eastern Sicily.
The name of the property is thought to derive from Nelson Hood’s love of
falconry — he is said to have kept his birds in the niches of the ancient
Greek temple in the garden. The grounds contain a huge white marble bench
transported from Nelson’s home in England. Inlaid in red marble are the
admiral’s own words: “The garden that I love.”
In 1947, the British government abolished the state pension it had been paying
the Nelson family since 1805. They could no longer run the estate, and were
forced to sell up. It was owned by Count Marzotto, a northern Italian
industrialist, until the mid1960s, when it was bought by Pietro and
Antonietta Labisi. Pietro is still alive, but for more than a decade, none
of the family has lived in the house, and it is left to one caretaker to
look after it.
“La Falconara was my family’s summer home,” says Antonietta Labisi, the
granddaughter of Pietro, who still lives on Sicily, in Catania, where the
family kept their permanent home.
“We also used the villa for family parties throughout the year, and we always
had fabulous fireworks on New Year’s Eve. I played in these fabulous rooms,
unaware of their historical significance — I was just a bambina.I
used to run up and down the marble stairs and through the corridors, often
with mamma chasing after me.”
The family installed a swimming pool in the grounds, a bathhouse and several
new terraces — all ideal for entertaining on a grand scale. “And entertain
we did,” Labisi says. “My grandmother was a beautiful, well-travelled woman
and received many guests. When Enzo Maiorca, the famous free diver, was a
guest, he went diving off the coast of Taormina and discovered an ancient
Greek amphora, which he presented to my grandmother.”
The home is decorated on an appropriately grand scale: the paintings,
sculptures and wall installations are estimated to be worth £3.4m. The wall
coverings alone, all silk damask and brocade, must have cost a fortune when
first installed, and the reception rooms are magnificent.
The salon de thé, for example, is panelled in dark walnut and
contains fine examples of china and silver tea services: “Princess Margaret
of your country had tea in this room during her visit,” Labisi says; the
princess was a family friend.
A ceramic cigarette box with a picture of the Shah of Iran and his family was
presented during a visit by the Iranian royals; the studio, with its
impressive marble desk, was used in The Godfather: Part III. “I wanted to
watch the filming and meet the stars, but I was at school and was forbidden
to skip classes,” Labisi recalls.
Scratch the surface of all this magnificence and any prospective buyer will
discover that, as with most properties, there is some work to do. The
building is sound, and there is no structural damage, but the plumbing and
wiring need attention. In a property of this size, setting it to rights
won’t be cheap.
The sale is being handled privately, by Antonietta herself, and, as much of
the furniture has been custom-made for the room in which it sits, most of it
would be included in the purchase, although the inclusion of artwork and
installations is subject to negotiation.
The villa’s stunning gardens, however, stretching up and down the hillside as
far as the eye can see, require serious attention. They are believed to have
been designed by Lady Florence Trevelyan, a Scottish-born aristocrat who
settled in Taormina, married a local, became an enthusiastic bird-watcher
and designed several private and public gardens before her death in 1907.
If any new owner gets bored roaming around the grounds or the villa itself,
there is plenty to do once they step outside the gates of the estate.
Taormina is steeped in history, having survived Greek conquest, Saracen
invasion, Roman rule and the incorporation of Sicily into a united Italy in
1861. It has fabulous views of the Ionian Sea and Mount Etna, amazing
vegetation, lemons the size of melons, food to die for and gentle, welcoming
locals.
Taormina’s annual film festival, in Italy second only to Venice, has been
running for more than half a century. Nor has the drama always been confined
to the screen; one year, a jealous Elizabeth Taylor broke a guitar over
Richard Burton’s head.
In the 19th century, the town became the favourite resort for a rather louche
aristocratic crowd; and early last century, the village was colonised by a
vibrant collection of expatriate artists, intellectuals and writers, among
them DH Lawrence. The writer lived in Taormina for several years, and is
believed to have been moved to write Lady Chatterley’s Lover by the romantic
antics of an Englishwoman who lived there. According to local legend, the
real-life Lady Chatterley was an unmarried woman who took up with a Sicilian
farmer; their nude coupling in an olive grove during a downpour is said to
have proved inspirational to Lawrence.
Given Taormina’s enduring popularity as a winter resort, there is scope for a
potential buyer to transform the estate from a private residence into a
boutique hotel, but some restrictions may be enforced because of the
historical value of the building.
The main entrance is on the winding Via Luigi Pirandello, which means parking
could be a problem, although space could be created by altering the garden.
“I hope that La Falconara will bring the new owners the kind of happiness and
wonderful memories it has given me and my family,” Labisi says.
- For sale details, contact Antonietta Labisi, 00 39 095 7809394, antonietta.labisi@tiscali.it
Additional reporting: Nadina Mustafa
