The Berlusconi family has agreed to sell Villa Certosa, the sprawling Sardinian estate that served for decades as Silvio Berlusconi’s summer retreat and an informal stage for international diplomacy, to a company linked to Qatar’s ruling Al Thani dynasty. The binding offer, accepted by the Fininvest-controlled Immobiliare Idra, values the property at approximately €350 million, a 30 percent discount from the €500 million initially sought after the former prime minister’s death in June 2023.

The buyer is Constellation Hotels Holding Ltd Sca, a Luxembourg-based investment vehicle that functions as the European real-estate arm of Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, Qatar’s former prime minister and foreign minister. The Al Thani family already holds significant assets in Sardinia’s Gallura region, including luxury resorts on the Costa Smeralda and the Mater Olbia Hospital, making the acquisition a consolidation of its presence in the area rather than an entry into an unfamiliar market.

The estate, which covers roughly 120 hectares and contains 126 rooms, seven swimming pools, an artificial volcano, and a nuclear bunker, became a fixture of Italy’s political imagery. Under Berlusconi, it hosted heads of state from Vladimir Putin to Tony Blair and was designated a secure alternative seat for the prime minister in 2004. The sale transfers a property that was both a private residence and a symbol of an era into the hands of a sovereign wealth-backed investor, removing it from the Berlusconi family’s portfolio after more than three decades.

For the Al Thani family, the purchase extends a pattern of high-profile European property acquisitions managed through discreet Luxembourg structures. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, who stepped down from public office in 2013 to focus on private business, has built a global portfolio spanning London, Paris, and now one of the Mediterranean’s most recognisable private estates. The transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks; the buyer has not disclosed plans for the property’s future use.