Monday, November 23, 2009

Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz al Saud Flips Out In Turin

SELLER: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
LOCATION: outside of Turin, Italy
PRICE: approx. €19,000,000
SIZE: 175 acres, 40+ rooms
DESCRIPTION: The renowned Castel of Castagneto Po, located on the slopes of the famous Turin hills, is in a lovely towering position and offers a beautifully panoramic view. The dwelling is surrounded by an English-style park with age-old trees of more than 70 hectares. The Family Bruni Tedeschi started important renovation works and turned it into one of the most refined dwellings in Europe as well as the venue of exhibitions and events of special artistic interest...

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: All the international real estate columns and blogs are atwitter and abuzz over Saudi billionaire biznessman Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz al Saud flipping the childhood home of fetching French first ladee Carla Bruni-Sarkozy back on the market just months after he purchased the historic 40+ room beast in the hills above Turin, Italy.

According to previous reports, the lavish living Saudi royal laid out around $25,000,000 for the humongous house in early 2009. Although some parts of house date back to the 11th century, listing information reveals that over the last several hundred years the regal residence has been rebuilt, remodeled, restored several times. The property stretches across approximately 70 hectores while the manse measures approximately 2,000 square meters, according to listing information. In Americanese, that's a whopping 21,528 square feet for the house and 173 acres for the land which includes orchards, flowering terraces, vegetable gardens, ancient greenhouses, a caretaker's cottage and a farm building of one sort or another.

The Castel of Castagneto Po was purchased for around $1,500,000 by arty-farty Italian industrialist Alberto Bruni Tedeschi–who was also an opera composer–in 1952. The Bruni Tedeschi family, whose wealth comes largely from tires, vacated the property in the early 1970s fearing reprisals and attacks by Marxist guerrilla groups who, at the time, were scaring the buhjeezis out of rich Italians. The family decamped for Paris but hung on to the historic property until early in 2009 when Miz Bruni-Sarkozy's mother Marisa Bruni Tedeschi sold it because, according to one report, "Nobody went there anymore."

Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, who is worth more than a dozen billion dollars, clearly and quickly had a real estate change of heart after buying the castel because he reportedly never even moved a stick of furniture or a single dishdasha into the massive mansion before hoisting it back on the market with a reported asking price of around €19,000,000. According to Your Mama's trusty currency conversion contraption, nineteen million Euros translate to 28,396,070 American clams.

The Saudi prince lives like, well, a damn Saudi prince. He reportedly shacks up a 317-room palace complete with 1,500 tons of marble, gold-plated faucets, four kitchens, a 45-seat cinema and a bewildering 250 boob-toobs. The prince is said to own upwards of 250 automobiles and takes to the seas on arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi's former yacht, which he picked up when American real estate mogul and global blowhard Donald Trump went bankrupt for the second time. Apparently The Donald's 282-foot yacht is not quite big enough for the mustachioed mogul's platinum plated taste because he's reportedly commissioned a $500,000,000+ yacht expected to measure between 530 and 560 feet long when it gets dropped into the water sometime in 2010. Think about that children...that's almost twice as long as a football field which means it's not a yacht its a damn cruise ship.

The air travel options for the prince are no less mind boggling and booty clenching. The 50-something year old already scoots around the globe in a behemoth Boeing 747 custom converted to private use but he's also ordered an Airbus A380 to the tune of three hundred million smackers or more. For all the children who do know know, the Airbus A380 is a double-decker, wide body airborne beast that will seat as many as 850 people during commercial flights. Of course, Mister Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz al Saud's Airbus A380 will seat far fewer once he's spent $100,000,000 or more after having his over-hauled for private use. If rumors and reports are accurate, the flying mansion is scheduled to include a 600 square foot master suite, a game room, a desert themed lounge, and a damn whirlpool tub that can be emptied in seconds should it become necessary. Sorta makes this little castle in Italy seem like nuthin' but a little real estate child's play, don't it?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Off specific topic, but in keeping with the idea of living large, I am wondering if there is any real estate rumor and speculation beginning to churn in anticipation of Oprah moving her operations to LA. Does she presently own anything in town? Had the idea that she ensconced herself at the Bel Air (pre-closing) when she was around. Since she seems to love her place in Montecito, I doubt that she would go for a similar weekday spread. Can see her going the Candy Spelling route in one of the new Wilshire buildings (or maybe if Candy can't unload the big house. . .). Anyway the O is used to apartment living in Chicago, so it might make sense. And that's my two somewhat useless cents.

Ernesto said...

I think I have to go lie down now...great post, Mama. My mind is reeling with all those zeros....

Anonymous said...

The Prince is the true King of all ballers.
I love this dude.
He does it big.
I like this place, it is gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

"nobody went there anymore"

all my belongings in storage get auctioned off tomorrow and this man never even moved in.

what is wrong with people.

Stewie said...

Very nice estate, historic and beautiful. I can understand why he's selling it though, Turin is not exactly a place where it's 'happening'. He probably just bought the estate because of its historic charm, but then realized he's never going to spend time at it, thus putting it on the market again.

Anonymous said...

Nice that he has spent so much restoring it and no knocking it around to 'modernize' it.

Anonymous said...

He bought it for a reportedly 17.5 mln € in May, and for nothing he ask now 19. A good player of flipper...

Jimmy said...

According to his bio: "In the early 1990s, Alwaleed made a risky bet on Citigroup that paid off hugely; in recent years it accounted for nearly half his fortune." [emphasis added]

Wonder how that "investment" is helping him out these days.

Anonymous said...

I was really surprised that the King of "Gold-Saudi-Kistch" bought this trully beautiful historical estate that Italy is famous for: he is more a Porto Cervo man... Turin is now very fashionable for design and architecture as well as for contemporary art.
Nothing to do with Al Waleed taste: when his new megayacht architect showed him plans for a library, he asked what it could be used for... Silence from the team and a guy said: "your trophies and logo of your different brands?" (Seen on TV show about him)
And his mega-mansion in Riadh is even badly decorated than Beverly Park worst one...
This man is a stranger to culture and art... Luckely for this estate that a more tasteful person will get! Like a Lauder or a Safra...
This man is a proof that money don't buy taste...
Pierre (France)

Anonymous said...

Mama,
I am not sure how you are going to do it, but you have got to get some photos of that cat's 300 room mansion!
I am sure it's all in good taste.

Anonymous said...

Pierre,

Thanks again for sharing extra info.. You seem very knowledgeable around the great estates of Europe. I remember reading your posts around the greatest estates of the French Riviera.
Do you have a blog or website with further info? Would love to be in touch with you to discuss on a few French properties.

Cheers,

JP

Anonymous said...

Mama, you continue to pleasantly shock and awe me. I had no idea you knew how big a football field is! Kudos, gurl. And can I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving? Love your hair, hope you win! My verification words are "gold leaf."

Anonymous said...

Hello JP

Unfortunatelly, I don't have any website or blog about real estate: maybe I should think about it!!!
I am just very interested by it as well as architecture and, as I live in South of France, I know few things about the area and its properties...
I am glad you did enjoy my post: I like sharing my informations when I have some!
It would be my pleasure to discuss with you and give you some informations.
All the best.
Pierre (France)

Anonymous said...

Pierre,

Definitely enjoyed your input on the estates of the French Riviera and was quite amazed about your knowledge of the deals completed behind closed doors around some of the greatest estates out there.
Please contact me jp_blanc at hotmail com as I would like to hear more about French Riviera estates like Chateau de la Croe and such.

Sincerely,

JP

Anonymous said...

JP

I tried to send you many emails and unfortunatelly, they were sended back to me saying that your adress is not correct...

I have done it again with different spealling, let me know if it works!

All the best

Pierre (France)