A storybook-like 19th-century Italian villa set in the mountains above Lake Como is being sold at an online auction next month without a reserve price.
The property lies in Brunate, an idyllic wooded town located a half hour from Milan, with impressive valley and lake views. Its architecture has Art Nouveau-style flourishes, including a turreted, pitched roof and a Tudor-style exterior that looks straight from a fairy- tale.
Built in 1892, Villino Rubini, as it is known, is a 4-acre hilltop property with sweeping views across the Lombardy region. It has been restored by its owners, who bought it five years ago for an undisclosed price, and since last year, has been run as a boutique hotel. The 12-bedroom property has come straight to auction without previously being listed, according to Concierge Auctions, a luxury real estate auction marketplace owned by Sotheby’s.
Located 2,600 feet in the hills above the resort town of Como which sits on the shores of Lake Como, “Villino Rubini has stunning interiors and architecture, which are true to its Italian heritage,” said said Francesco Ugoni, of Bene Habitare, a real estate agency in Lake Como who is handling the sale. The owners declined to comment on the sale.
“Beautiful gardens dot the grounds and color the property with lush trees and flowers,” Ugoni said.
The main six-bedroom house lies adjacent to a two-bedroom custodian house, both featuring burgundy exterior woodwork and Art Nouveau interiors painted in deep, saturated colors and decorated with antiques. They have deep French windows looking onto its gardens, varnished hardwood floors, barrel-vaulted brick ceilings, multiple fireplaces (including one from the 17th century), covered balconies, plus a spectacular, restored greenhouse that forms a great room and dining room that fits 30 people.
The property in Italy’s Lombardy region has five independent guest suites dotted on its grounds, which form the hotel’s accommodation, as well as two chef’s kitchens, and a large commercial-grade kitchen with cast-iron cabinetry and modern appliances. There’s also a five-car garage block with an office. It is an ideal holiday home with rental potential having an established history as a boutique hotel, according to Concierge Auctions.
Villino Rubini’s tranquil grounds include a rectangular-shaped pool set on a raised lawn garden, with a drinks bar, and impressive vistas overlooking the Como Valley and a freestanding tower on the property worthy of Rapunzel. Gravel paths lined with blooming pastel hydrangeas twist across the property. The 12,916-square-foot home is five minutes from a funicular station that has services to Como’s famous waterfront promenade awash with restaurants, shops and lakefront trails, in seven minutes.
Bidding for the home opens at 11 a.m (Eastern Daylight Time) on June 22 via Concierge Auctions.
This article originally appeared on Mansion Global.
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