It is said that Carlo Ponti’s villa had three doors and that he would have guests enter through the most modest one. He would then lead them into a room with walls and a vaulted ceiling made of large blocks of tuff, and on the floor, a Roman mosaic depicting the head of Medusa.
That room still exists, and the house is looking for a new owner. Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti’s villa in the Appia Antica Park is back on the market through Italy Sotheby’s International Realty. The price is confidential, but negotiations are reportedly in the range of 15 to 20 million euros.
You can’t see it from the street: there’s only a perimeter wall, a quarter of an hour from the historic center. If you walk or bike along the Appian Way on Sundays, you’ll pass right by it without even realizing it.
A dining room inside a Roman cave
Today, the Medusa adorns the floor of the dining room, which was carved out of an ancient Roman-era cave. Among luxury properties in Rome, it’s hard to find anything quite like it.
There’s also a detail that really strikes a chord with Romans. The villa stands on the remains of an ancient basalt quarry: part of the stone used to build the Appia Antica came from there. The very same road you walk on between Porta San Sebastiano and Cecilia Metella.
From Fellini to Alberto Sordi
Few famous Roman residences have had a guest list like this: Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica, Roberto Rossellini, Anthony Quinn, Kirk Douglas, and Silvana Mangano.
Alberto Sordi was among them. Years later, recalling Ponti’s hospitality, he chose to set the opening scene of *A Taxi Driver in New York* right here. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ve already been inside that villa.
Eight years on the hunt for a buyer
Ponti and Loren have long since had nothing to do with it: in 1985, ownership passed to another family, which still lives in the main villa. In 2018, the villa had already been listed for 19 million euros, but no buyer was found.
Since then, the address has earned an additional distinction: starting in 2024, the Via Appia will be a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For those who follow luxury real estate in Rome, this is one of those deals to keep an eye on.
The reason for the sale has not been disclosed. In the meantime, the best part remains: on Sundays and holidays, the Appia is closed to traffic, and Ponti’s wall is still there.
