Luxury real estate Italy & castles for sale
Perhaps the one thing better than finding your dream property in Italy is being able to buy luxury. Italian property comes in all shapes and sizes but there’s something magical about a home with those extras that make it extra-special. From magnificent villas to mansions and castles for sale in Italy, when it comes to luxury real estate, Italy boasts some of the world’s best. Here is some of our finest…
 
Traditionally, buyers searching for luxury homes for sale in Italy have tended to flock towards the hills and countryside of Tuscany (singer Sting near Figline Valdarno, for instance) and Como and the other northern lakes (see Sting again, George Clooney, Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson, Donatella Versace and soccer coach Jose Mourinho).
But in truth it is possible to find luxury Italian property right across the country, from a ski chalet in Courmayeur, in the foothills of the Alps, to a penthouse in Rome or Milan; from a farmhouse in Le Marche or Umbria to a sprawling villa with swimming pool in Sardinia and Calabria. Or if you fancy something more stately, there is an impressive range of castles for sale in Italy. Then there are homes on the Amalfi coast and Sicily that often offer stunning sea-views. And the beauty is that such prestige real estate has held its value despite the turbulence elsewhere in the market.
In Tuscany, cities such as Florence and Lucca offer prestige penthouses, apartments and villas with the added attraction of being close to the heart of some of Europe’s greatest art cities. Other parts of Tuscany that should prove fertile hunting ground for finding luxury Italian real estate include villages such as Gaiole (once named by Forbes magazine as Europe’s most idyllic place in which to live), Castigliole and Greve as well as hotspots on the coast such as Forte dei Marmi .
The market in luxury property on Italy’s lakes, and especially Lake Como, has traditionally been kept buoyant thanks to the area's sheer natural magnificence ’ the Romantic poet Shelley once wrote about how it “exceeds anything I ever beheld in beauty” – as well as demand from Swiss bankers across the border to the north and wealthy Milanese to the south. In addition, strict curbs on new construction and the shortage of prestige properties coming onto the market also ensures that prestige homes in this part of Italy retain their value.
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