A Sicilian castle that featured in The Godfather Part III film has hit the market – and it teems with neo-gothic charm and cathedral-like spaces.
Francis Ford Coppola used the 19th-century Italian mansion as a film location for his 1990 film in which a powerful politician is shot by a killer, sent by Michael Corleone, right on its porch. Italian cinephiles might also know it from Mauro Bolognini’s 1969 film That Splendid November.
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The 43,000-sq-ft estate was built in opulent, eclectic style in the coastal city of Acireale, outside Catania, for the noble Pennisi family of Floristella, who rotated its façade at a peculiar angle (50 degrees clockwise) so that its beauty could be admired.
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It boasts magnificent stone interiors, its own chapel with frescos by Giuseppe Sciuti, and 22 bedrooms.
Piazza Agostino Pennisi has two towers with Moorish-style battlements and a three-arched portico opening onto a monumental marble staircase, which forks into two at the sides and leads up to the first floor and a portrait of Baron Pennisi. Other highlights include a wooden coffered ceiling, tall ogival windows, an imposing sitting room fireplace, and the chapel’s starry night sky ceiling featuring saints.
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The Sicilian property is for sale for €6 million via Italy Sotheby’s International Realty. Tour its opulently appointed spaces in the gallery above.
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