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(EMAILWIRE.COM, March 24, 2009 ) Italy - Auctions can often be a bit of a wasteground, littered with dilapidated houses crying out for a bit of TLC - but this auction couldnÂ’t be a bigger break from the norm - flogging off the ostentatious contents of the late Gianni VersaceÂ’s sumptuous mansion on Lake ComoÂ…
The contents of the ‘Emperor of Fashion’s’ weekend retreat Villa Fontanelle in the town of Moltrasio was auctioned by Sotheby’s Wednesday 18th March 2009.
Versace, who was shot in Miami in 1997 aged just 50, had his main residences in Milan and Miami but escaped to his 19th Century villa on the lake at weekends for some peace and quiet.
He also used the luxury Italian property to host famous friends such as the late Princess Diana and music legends Sting, Elton John and Madonna.
Prior to the auction, around 550 items from the villa, including 19 beds, 17 chandeliers, paintings and statues of Roman emperors, were on public view at SothebyÂ’s Auction House in New Bond Street in central London.
Sotheby’s even went so far as to recreate entire rooms, just as they were in the villa. His opulent gilt-bronze mounted mahogany bed was expected to fetch around £20,000. Two enormous statues of naked Greek boxers Creugas and Damoxenos sold for £433,250.
The biggest sale was a pair of Italian cherry wood bookcases from Versace’s bedroom, which sold for £481,250 and £601,250 respectively.
One of the star lots, a portrait called the ‘Portrait of Major George Maule,’ by 18th Century German Artist Johann Zoffany, had to be withdrawn from the auction at the last minute after doubts were raised over ownership.
The painting was thought to have been stolen years before Versace acquired it and he is said to have been unaware of the portraitÂ’s history.
The villa itself was snapped up by Russian billionaire Arkady Novikov last year for an eye-watering £26 million.
Flying in the face of the credit crunch, the auction is already rumoured to have collected more than £7 million over 12 hours of frenzied bidding.
Whilst his other homes and property were sold off soon after his death, as Villa Fontanelle was Versace’s favourite home, the family kept it for a time. “It is the house that really belongs to me, reflecting a mirror image of all that I am, for better or worse,” he once said.
Gianni will still live on in Moltrasio – his ashes are in a family vault in the local cemetery not far from his old villa. His fashion empire also lives on, controlled by his sister, the perma-tanned Donatella.
For more information on Italian properties and the market in general, please visit http://italy.themovechannel.com/
-ENDS-
Notes to editors:
TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.
For further information as well as images and interview possibilities, please contact:
Dan Johnson
Managing Director
www.themovechannel.com
0207 952 7650
TheMoveChannel.com
Dan Johnson
020 7952 7650
dj@themovechannel.com 
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