I’M WANDERING around one of the most celebrated palaces in Florence, risking
life and limb tripping over bricks and electrical wire as I crane my neck to
see the extraordinary art around me. On the sweeping stairway, up which the
Medici family paraded five centuries ago, a 20ft marble statue of Diana the
Huntress stands, golden bow in her hands and a hound at her feet. On a
landing, angels loom out of a 16th-century wall.
It is a palace fit for a medieval prince — which is precisely what it was.
Built in the 15th century, on the blocks cornered by Via Tornabuoni and Via
Strozzi, the Palazzo Tornabuoni was home to generations of aristocrats:
first the Tornabuoni family, then the Medicis, and finally the powerful
Corsi family.
This year all that will change. In October the palace will, for the first
time, be home to 288 ordinary citizens. Most will, the developers predict,
be Americans and British. All will have considerable cash to spare. And the
majority will love Florence so much that they will be willing to splash out
millions to have a former palace as their private club.
The concept of a private residence club has never before been tried in Italy,
although it has in America, says Enrico Cristiani, head of hospitality for
Fingen, the company that owns the palace. The idea is simple. The palace
will be divided into 36 private homes: four studios, 11 one-bedroom flats
and 21 with two to three bedrooms. Those who wish to buy into the scheme
(all vetted for suitability) will be able to buy equity in the company that
owns the palace, costing from € 186,000 (£121,000) to € 455,000.
Once 95 per cent of the equity has been sold, ownership of the palace will be
passed from Fingen to the club, which will run it by an elected board. The
owners will merely turn up and use the palace as a second — or third, or
fourth — home, with three guaranteed weeks a year, and after that on a
“space-available” basis.
But mention the word timeshare and Cristiani’s eyes start to roll.
“Absolutely not!” he says, at the very thought of something so common in
such exalted surroundings. “With timeshare, you buy time in a resort. Here
you buy membership of a palace where you can stay whenever you want,
providing there is availability, with all the services of a five-star hotel.
You are not buying real estate. This is a lifestyle.”
The L-word is the key to this concept. Those who are forking out € 186,000
plus annual maintenance of € 6,000 for an 800ft studio, or up to € 455,000
plus € 17,000 for the bigger flats, are not doing so for the space. They
are buying into the extras. Fingen Group is one of the biggest financial
players in Florence. Its principal shareholders, the Fratini brothers, who
have just sold Calvin Klein, are highly influential in the world of fashion
and art.
“Put it this way, we have strong links with everyone you would want to know in
the city,” he says. “So, we can organise nearly anything. We can introduce
you to anyone. We can arrange that you live a truly Italian life.”
Unlike hotels, they promise, this club can get members into places out of the
reach of ordinary citizens. Such as? “We can arrange trips to Tuscany’s top
wine estates, or a private vintage jewellery evening with Bulgari, or
invitations to exclusive fashion shows and private art collections. For wine
collectors, there is the chance to buy rare vintages through our contacts.
And there would be private cooking courses. And, of course, immediate
entrance into museums — we don’t want our members to have to queue.” The
club will be a cross between a private home and a five-star hotel, the
owners hope, with a range of additional lifestyle services, including the
use of a private sommelier. Chefs can be arranged or restaurant food
delivered, and tennis and riding lessons can be arranged at clubs affiliated
to the palazzo.
While the prices seem high to most mortals (given that one is not actually
buying into a property, but rather use of it every now and then), they are
not exorbitant for the sort of clients they hope to attract, Cristiani says.
Eleven months before the club opens, and two months into the sales campaign,
the company has already sold 20 of the 288 memberships (eight memberships
for each of the 36 apartments). One American tried to buy ten memberships
but was turned down. “That’s not what we want — people gambling on
investment. We want a good community,” says Cristiani firmly.
There will be fairly strict vetting procedures. Families will be admitted, but
unruly behaviour will result in warnings, then written warnings and finally
ejection from the club. “The last thing we want are rock bands, who might
trash the place,” he says. “Much of the art in here is irreplaceable. Some
of the marble fire surrounds are worth half a million euros, and we can’t
afford to lose those kinds of treasures.”
The only apartment that was finished when I visited — with 30ft
stucco-embellished ceilings sprouting white plaster roses, cream suede
furnishings, silk curtains, marble statues and cashmere throws — was
decidedly child-unfriendly. But many of the other spaces, Cristiani says,
will be more modern, with roof terraces overlooking the Duomo or balconies
looking towards the neighbouring Palazzo Strozzi museum of art or the
belltower of San Gaetano.
The joy of membership, the management insists, is that every time you come you
can stay in a different apartment, each with completely different styles and
art. Each member can book three weeks a year to use themselves or to give to
friends and family (although they cannot be sub-let for financial gain). In
addition, weeks can be swapped through The Elite Alliance
(www.elitealliance.com) for accommodation in other similar properties abroad.
I am assured by Jane Guarducci, the sales manager, that membership can be
passed on through generations, that it cannot be terminated and that it’s
entirely safe — even though the Government has a legal right to buy ancient
buildings every 30 years. “The only way the system could be dissolved is if
the board — which will be decided by the membership — decides to sell,”
Cristiani insists. “So membership is a willable, transferable asset.”
Details: 0870 6098555, www.palazzotornabuoni.com
