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Villa on the Amalfi Coast of Italy From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
La Rondinaia (built 1930) is a villa in Ravello on the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy.
| La Rondinaia | |
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.JPG) View of La Rondinaia from the sea | |
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Initially, the property was a part of the Villa Cimbrone, owned by Ernest Beckett, 2nd Baron Grimthorpe. His daughter Lucy had La Rondinaia built around 1930 and began living there. It is built on the edge of a cliff, hence its name "The swallows nest" (rondine means swallow in Italian).[1] It has six floors and is 600 square metres (6,500 sq ft) in size. The surrounding garden is 4 hectares (9.9 acres).[2]
It was owned by American writer Gore Vidal and his partner Howard Austen, from 1972 to 2006, who added a pool and sauna in 1984.[3][4] While he owned the villa, Vidal hosted Paul Newman, Mick Jagger, Greta Garbo, Princess Margaret, Bruce Springsteen, Tennessee Williams, Italo Calvino and Hillary Clinton. Critic David Cunningham referred to La Rondinaia as "perhaps the last great author's home/artistic salon".[5] After Austen's death in 2003 and due to his failing health, Vidal posted it for sale around 2004 for around €14,000,000.[4] It was eventually sold to Vincenzo Palumbo, a local hotelier.[6]
In 2015, Palumbo offered the property for sale at £20,000,000.[7][8]
The villa was one location for the 2004 movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.[4]
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