Articles

In detail: Contemporary Living in a 16th-Century Estate

 

On the hills of Florence, Villa La Bugia (formerly Villa Tovaglia) tells a story that spans centuries, from its ties to the Amidei family and Renaissance merchant Agnolo del Tovaglia, to the extraordinary moment when Leonardo da Vinci himself sketched its form in 1500. Later transformed by the Morrocchi family in the 19th century with gardens and a Lemon House, the estate has now entered a new chapter.

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Silvestro Lega

The Cat And The Moth

Let’s ease into 2021 with some data relative to the past year, focusing our attention as always on the trends and market niche activity.
2020 ended with an increase in the prices of residential properties in that in northwestern Italy went up as much as +5.2%, surprising many. Actually, this is not surprising at all, considering that the pandemic has put home ownership more than ever at the top of everybody’s list of priorities, for every family.

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The Challenge

Airbnb successfully quoted on the stock exchange but the miraculous
non-hotel accommodations sector has changed.
Airbnb reached the incredible value of well beyond 100 billion dollars, it’s true, and it certainly gives people a lot of hope with regard to market’s feelings toward the tourist industry and its resilience in this time of Covid. In Italy we can only drink to its good health and hope for the best because it will be our success too, as we are a superpower of tourism worldwide! However there is something more behind this exploit, something different and possibly far removed from mere trust in the recovery of tourism for the coming years.

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Sapore di Mare

Today a dear friend and client, a Tuscan, asked me what I thought about his idea of investing in a house with garden in the Tyrhennian coastal area known as Versilia, with the idea of remodeling it and possibly selling it later. The correct observation that prompts him to purchase now is the fact that, in this year of continuous lockdowns, whether moderate or strict, many Italians have rediscovered the importance of living in nature, surrounded by green and loved even more the sea, and the focus of their thoughts and dreams of home ownership has turned with renewed vigor toward a house with a garden.

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O Captain! My Captain!

In the pre-Covid world of real estate, whenever there was economic turmoil, we knew it was just a matter of waiting until we could see more clearly. In this case, however, waiting does no good at all and would indeed, I believe, be utterly fruitless. I’d like to call my readers’ attention to certain categories of property and locations that are already exhibiting clear signs of a fleeting opportunity that it would perhaps be unwise not to seize.

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Casa Malaparte

The Feelgood Factor

Moving in the right direction is already enough to feel good, and as Fedor Mikhailovich says, is right road to happiness, so long as we don’t stray…

Could this be the spirit of our strange time? The Zeitgeist?

Let’s try to understand it, without any scientific pretense, starting from the recent history of the real estate business and our first impressions from this particular perch we occupy that may give us a glimpse of the new trends of our time. First of all, however, we have to take a step back and trace the events of the recent past.

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