26/06/2009 - Portofino and Cortina, most expensive homes

ooms with breathtaking sea views or of the most beautiful mountains in the country; the most expensive homes in Italy are in Portofino, Cortina d'Ampezzo and Capri. The head spinning prices in these three vacation spots are way over the even the prices in the most exclusive neighbourhoods in Rome or Milan. In Portofino, on the Calata Marconi or Piazza Martiri dell'Olivetta, a house costs an average of 17,560 a square metre. Nearly two million euros for 100 square metres. In Piazza Navona in Rome, one of the most expensive in the regional capitals, an apartment with a view on Bernini’s fountain costs more than one third less that in Portofino. In the Roman piazza the average price per square metre is 10,950 euros. Surprisingly the top ten doesn’t include Sardinia, neither Porto Cervo or Porto Rotondo are in the top twenty of Italy’s most exclusive areas. The top ten of the country’s most expensive areas for buying property was drawn up by consulting the data bank kept by the Agenzia del Territorio’s Real Estate Observatory updated to 2008. The list of places where homes are sold for their weight in gold are all vacation spots: Portofino, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Capri, Madonna di Campiglio, Santa Margherita Ligure, Forte dei Marmi, Selva di Val Gardena, Camogli, Alassio and Finale Ligure. The destination of half the wealthy is Liguria and the seaside resorts beat the mountains seven to three. The ten municipalities also are in the top twenty of the most expensive places according to the OMI, the revenue agencies observatory. Capri, for example, is in third place with homes on Via Oratorio and Via L'Abate (costing an average of 11,688 euros a square metre) but has five districts in the top 20. The least expensive on the island is Palazzo a Mare, where a home is worth 7,288 euros a square metre. In any case a one hundred square metre apartment doesn’t come for less than 700,000 euros. There are only three cities in the twenty most expensive places: Rome, Milan and Naples. But Rome, with 18 neighbourhoods out of the twenty most expensive considering the mortgages allocated to buyers. From Piazza Navona to Campo Marzio, from Fontana di Trevi to Piazza Colonna: these are the most expensive placet in the city to buy a home with prices from an average of 6,450 euros in the Monti district to 10,950 in the Parione district. In Milan the top is San Babila (8,650 euros a square metre) and in Naples it is Posillipo (6,931).