Italy's real estate and art worlds are all a flutter over the news that Rome's Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi, better known as Villa Aurora, is on the market for almost half a billion euro. The sumptuous villa, hidden by high walls near Via Veneto, has been owned by the noble Ludovisi family since the 16th century.

The historic property is all that remains of Villa Ludovisi - a country retreat established in the 1620s by Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte - which was sold off by the family during Rome's construction boom in the late 19th century.