Among orderly rows of grapevines and stately cypress trees in the heart of Tuscany, you'll find the exquisite and whimsical Sammezzano Castle. And now, you can actually own this unique fairytale property as it's just hit the market for $18.4 million.
This once abandoned castle has an interesting history, said to have origins tracing to ancient Rome. It was built in the picturesque town of Regello in 1605, then restored in the 19th century by an Italian nobleman who turned it into the technicolor Moorish oasis it looks today, then briefly used as a hotel and bar after World War II. A second attempt at a luxury hotel in the early 2000s failed, and since then the castle has sat largely empty for the past two decades.
Though abandoned, on rare days the castles gatekeepers have opened doors for lucky visitors to ogle over the splendor hidden inside. On Instagram, the hashtag #sammezzano has garnered over 6,000 posts documenting the ornate interiors—58,400-square-feet of interiors to be precise, and a whopping 365 rooms.
Incredibly, no two rooms are alike. Among the most jaw-dropping are the Room of the Lilies, the Room of the Lovers, the Room of the Stalactites, the Room of the Mirrors, and the Room of the Peacocks.
The outside is almost as grand as in the interiors, with 160-acre grounds peppered with 57 centuries-old giant sequoia trees, with an average height of 114 feet. The tallest of the trees towers over the others at 164 feet tall.
Interested buyers can find the property's listing at New York luxury real estate company, Coldwell Banker.
