Berlusconi heirs sell Sardinian party palace to Qatari sheikh

Silvio Berlusconi’s heirs have agreed to sell the former Italian prime minister’s luxury Sardinian retreat, Villa Certosa, to a company linked to Qatar’s ruling family, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani’s Constellation Hotels Holding Ltd paid €350 million ($395 million) for the sprawling estate on Sardinia’s exclusive Costa Smeralda, local media reported.

Fininvest, the Berlusconi family holding, confirmed that one of its companies had “accepted a binding offer from a foreign entity for the sale of Villa Certosa”, without giving further details.

Neither al Thani nor the Luxembourg-registered Constellation Hotels Holding Ltd could be immediately reached for comment.

The property is spread over roughly 120 hectares (300 acres) with views across the Mediterranean. It includes the main villa and outbuildings with around 126 rooms, swimming pools, an amphitheatre, a vast cactus collection, and a mock volcano that erupts on command. It also has a James Bond-style underground grotto where small boats can dock discreetly out of sight.

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