Texas Princess Eviction Leads to Caravaggio’s Unexpected Stay at Rome Villa

A princess from Texas had to get a taxi on Thursday, with her four little dogs inside, because she was kicked out of a special house in Rome. The building contained something very special – the only known painting on the ceiling made by Caravaggio. She was removed due to an argument about who should inherit the villa.

Princess Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi (formerly known as Rita Carpenter) left the fancy Casino dell’Aurora near Via Veneto soon after some police officers showed up because a court had ordered for her to leave. Even before she could leave, somebody already changed the locks on the big green entrance door.

She left in a very dramatic way – one of her dogs accidentally escaped while she was talking to the press outside. This really highlighted the troubles of an old, powerful family from Rome called the Boncompagni Ludovisi’s. They were famous because they had produced Pope Gregory XIII who created the Gregorian calendar. But more recently, people talked about them due to a heated argument over their huge villa right in the middle of Rome and it was put up for sale by court order.

The princess said she felt like she was inside a strange movie as she stood on the street, carrying a fluffy white dog in her arms and followed by three more dogs at her ankles.

Casino dell’Aurora, or Villa Ludovisi as it is sometimes called, has been in the possession of the Ludovisi family since the 1600s. When Prince Nicolo Boncompagni died in 2018, his children from his first marriage and third wife Princess Rita (who was from San Antonio, Texas and had previously been married to American Congressman John Jenrette Jr) got into an argument over who would inherit the villa.

The children said that the old house, built all the way back in 1570, belongs to them because their grandpa wanted them to have it and their dad had been mean and wasted his money. They got lawyers to help them so they can sell the house and make some money out of it.

In January, a judge named Miriam Iappelli made an order to evict Princess Boncompagni Ludovisi. The order stated that she had done something wrong – she was not allowed to give guided tours on the property but had still gone ahead and done it anyway.

The reason the Princess had given tours of the house was because they needed money to keep the Villa looking good. However, the judge found that her attempts failed as an outside wall of the Villa had fallen down!

Prince Bante Boncompagni Ludovisi, one of the heirs, was present at the villa on Thursday to see his father’s widow leave. He said that renovations were needed in this house since its water pipelines had to be restored and the frescoes were in danger. He also reminded people that they must respect their country and laws if they are staying there.

No one is sure who will be doing the repairs on the house, which requires 11 million euros to make it safe and up-to-date.

The villa was placed for sale last year as part of a legal dispute regarding the inheritance. The court decided that it was worth 471 million euros ($533 million) and this price was mostly determined by a painting inside named Caravaggio. However, no one bought it in the first sale because the minimum bid asked for was too much (353 million euros/$400 million). So, to get more people interested, the price was lowered until finally someone buys it.

At the top of a spiral staircase on the second floor is a small room with an incredible ceiling painted by Caravaggio. It was ordered in 1597 by an art lover and it took Caravaggio to make this 9-foot wide piece which shows Jupiter, Pluto and Neptune. Uniquely, instead of using frescoes like other painters, he used oil paint on plaster! That makes this the only mural painting made by Caravaggio that we know about.

The history of the villa and the princess living in it is unclear. The princess, Boncompagni Ludovisi, said she looked after the villa for 20 years and even put together a digital archive with help from Rutgers University. She also said that she believes her care was good enough, without understanding why this became an issue.

She didn’t share where she would go next, though pointed out that the Episcopal Church in Rome contacted them to offer help. She was sad to end her 20 years of work in Italy that way.

At the end of this year, a book will be published about the villa and its famous ceiling which is dedicated to her husband Nicolo. And then they all left in a taxi with their dogs into the Roman traffic.