Villa Aurora in Rome is not the only historically significant property struggling to find a buyer. Below is an example of a historic castle that was in the shop window for over 10 years before it finally found a buyer in 2022.
Castello Guglielmi will be familiar to many holidaymakers, as the striking castle on one of the islets in the middle of Lake Trasimeno in Umbria, Isola Maggiore. Because of this visibility, it was one of the auctions that sparked my interest in this phenomenon. In one year, I saw auction after auction end without a bidder. And meanwhile, the price dropped to a million euros. How was it possible that a property of this size and with such a unique location was for sale for the price of a “middle villa” in, say, Naarden? Several bidders were active at the final auction, giving the sale price another small push to 1,400,000 euros. Not bad for a 10,000-square-metre complex with this unique location and appearance. It was auctioned because the real estate company that had bought the complex (to turn it into a luxury beauty farm) went bankrupt during the 2008 credit crunch.
