Villa Certosa passes from Berlusconi to Sheikh Al Thani

The sale of Villa Certosa from Silvio Berlusconi’s heirs to Qatar’s already substantial Sardinian property portfolio is almost certain to be one of the most valuable transactions per individual asset in 2025.

The villa in Porto Rotondo, overlooking the Gulf of Marinella, which since the 1980s has been the setting not only for the Berlusconi family’s holidays but also for international political meetings and summits – attended by figures ranging from George W. Bush to Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin – is said to have been sold for around 300 million euros, just over half of the 500 million initially estimated when the property first came onto the market roughly two years ago. The buyer is reportedly the Al Mirqab Group, the same entity that recently took part in the property deal with the fashion group Kering at 8 Via Montenapoleone, in the heart of Milan’s Quadrilatero della Moda, through a corporate structure 80 per cent owned by the Qatari group and 20 per cent by the French group.

Al Mirqab is part of the network of companies linked to Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, ruler of Qatar since 2013. Al Mirqab’s parent company is Constellation Hotels Holding, a Luxembourg-based firm which acts as one of Qatar’s vehicles for property investment.

The emir thus adds a flagship asset to the hotels he owns in Sardinia through Smeralda Holding. These are the five most exclusive hotels on the Costa Smeralda, acquired by Tom Barrack’s Colony Capital in 2012 for around 600 million euros. These include the famous Cala di Volpe, the Romazzino – which recently came under the management of Belmond – Pitrizza and the Hotel Cervo, to which the lifestyle hotel created on the site of the former Cervo Tennis Club is soon to be added. Over the years, the offering has been enhanced by high-end dining options, whilst the estate still features a number of traditional buildings (stazzu) that have not been sold or converted.

The Costa Smeralda area was originally developed by the Aga Khan and is set to become the new centre of gravity for Italian hospitality, as well as a prime hunting ground for international investors looking for a second home. Although this latest development could well be a prelude to the opening of a new ultra-luxury hotel. This possibility is currently being kept under wraps, partly due to the controversy surrounding the much-debated Tavolara Bay development, which is dominating the headlines at the moment.