For buyers looking to live like royalty in the center of Renaissance Venice, here’s your chance.
On Oct. 27, luxury real estate auction house Concierge Auctions is holding a live auction for a once-in-a-lifetime apartment, the Piano Nobile, or "main floor," at Palazzo Molin. The apartment was previously listed for €7.76 million (US$8.7 million). At auction it will sell for €4.5million ($5 million) or higher.
The six-bedroom, four-and-a-half bathroom, 610-square-meter (approximately 6,500-square-foot) apartment is located on the Barcaroli Canal, a stone’s throw from Venice’s famous Piazza San Marco, La Fenice opera house and the Grand Canal. It has canal views from two sides, four balconies and access to a courtyard. The Venetian Gothic façade, with its Moorish and Byzantine influences, is original from the 15th Century, according to the Concierge Auctions listing
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The building once belonged to the Molin family, a noble house in the Republic of Venice, according to Palazzo Molin’s website. It is one of the city’s most important Gothic structures, and the quatrefoil windows and ornate stonework make the building seem as though it is soaring upwards.
"Palazzo Molin is in an A1 location," says Charlie Smith, European Advisor and Project Manager at Concierge Auctions. "The local restaurant literally round the corner is Il Divo, where George Clooney had his bachelor party, but also has the Venetian charm and style in a building that has been utterly refurbished, so all the 21st Century mod-cons."
Although this history of the building is apparent in the interior scale, with almost 20-foot soaring ceilings inside the apartment, the interior is modern and has an open-concept kitchen and dining room. Residents pass though a shared lobby designed by the Milan-based designer Culti.
According to the listing, the apartment was designed for an art collector and the soaring beamed ceilings and wide space leaves plenty of room for painting and sculptures. A Murano glass chandelier provides a hint of sparkle and a local touch.