In San Saba, there’s an apartment where two Oscar-winning films were born. The study, the bookshelves, and the period floors are still there. Part of Vittorio De Sica’s home in Rome has been on the market since November 2025, and in the meantime, the price has dropped: from the initial 1.05 million, the listing now asks for 950,000 euros.
The studio where De Sica and Zavattini wrote two Oscar-winning films
The heart of the home is the study. Here, De Sica worked side by side with Cesare Zavattini—the duo who transformed postwar Italian cinema.
Within these walls, “Il tetto,” “Il giudizio universale,” “Ieri, oggi, domani,” and “Il giardino dei Finzi Contini” took shape. The latter two won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
He lived here with his wife, the Spanish actress María Mercader, and it was here that his son Manuel is said to have composed some of his earliest film scores.
Christian De Sica and María Mercader’s home: what it’s like and how much it costs
After the director’s death, the house was divided into two: his son Christian lived in one part, and his widow, María Mercader—who passed away in 2011—lived in the other.
One of the two units is now for sale through Battisti Home: 122 square meters of interior space featuring an entryway, living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and two storage closets.
That works out to just under 7,800 euros per square meter, not including the terrace. That’s no small sum, even for luxury homes in Rome—especially since the listing specifies that the property needs renovation.
The highlight, however, is outside. The terrace wraps around the entire apartment, partly overlooking Via Aventina, featuring original 20th-century tiles and fragments of Roman capitals embedded in the walls.
San Saba: From a Public Housing Neighborhood to the “Little Aventine” of the VIPs
The neighborhood, which today is home to some of Rome’s most expensive properties, began as a public housing district. In the early 20th century, the Istituto Case Popolari commissioned the very young architect Quadrio Pirani to design a small English-style garden city intended for office workers.
Small villas, tree-lined avenues, and tranquility, nestled between the Basilica of San Saba, the Aurelian Walls, and the Baths of Caracalla. Today it’s called the “Little Aventine,” and finding a home here is by no means easy.
From Via Aventina to Porta Portese: In the Footsteps of De Sica in Rome
Valeria Arnaldi’s *La Roma di Vittorio De Sica* has recently hit the shelves; it tells the story of the city through the director’s favorite spots. And November 13 marks the anniversary of his death.
There’s still so much of his Rome to explore, starting with the Porta Portese market from *Bicycle Thieves*. Among the celebrity homes for sale in Rome, however, this one is the most intimate: since 2010, a plaque on the facade has honored him as a “master and witness of great Italian cinema around the world.”
