Private Mediterranean islands are rarely for sale, but Punta Penata, a small piece of land in the Bay of Naples, with the collapsed walls of old Roman villas hidden among overgrown plants, has been on the market for several months.
Located about 20 miles from downtown Naples, this narrow island sits like an exclamation point just off the seaside town of Bacoli.
“It offers a charming and unique retreat surrounded by lush Mediterranean vegetation and Roman artefacts,” reads the promotional promotion for Sotheby's International Realty. Punta Pennata adds that it is “an exclusive opportunity for prestigious investments.”
It is one version of the future of the island.
The other comes from Mayor of Bacoli, Joshi Gerard dela Ragione, who imagines the island as a park. The mayor said that, as it had barely visited for decades and decades, its untouched flora will draw residents and visitors to lesser known parts of the Italian coastline.
“It's like Neverland,” he said in an interview in his office that he evoked Peter Pan's fictional island. “It's a place where you can just go like a fantasy,” he added. “The bakori is small, but it could still be confusing.”
This sale has become something of a populist struggle, robbing the deep pocket buyer's quest for more collaborative alternatives. The main obstacle to the mayor's plan is the price tag. This is what Sotheby's puts it at around 10 million euros (approximately $10.3 million).
Since the island was valued at around 2 million euros just a few years ago, the price is “the robber baron's speculation.”
Asked about list prices, Sotheby's pointed out the unique nature of the property.
The final boom in luxury real estate around this time came about 2,000 years ago when the north coast of the Gulf of Naples was a playground for the Roman Empire's aristocrats. “It was Monte Carlo at the time,” Della Laguione said. The large thermal bass was part of the draw. Even the emperor occasionally piled up. The entire area is part of Campiful Gray or part of Phlegraean Field, a vast area of volcanic activity, including nearby Mount Vesuvius. The land rose and fell over the centuries – the seismic process known as Bradism.
The vibrant mosaic floors of the former palace beachfront Roman Villa currently sit on the seabed 4-5 yards below the seas of Klinka's blue and Peridot. Small inflammatory individuals occur regularly.
The port adjacent to Punta Penata Island served as a home port for the Roman Naval Fleet, which once ruled the Western Mediterranean, records show. Part of the galley where Vesuvius rescued survivors fleeing Pompeii after erupting in 79 AD
Amateur historian Ciro Amoroso embraces the idea of the park at Punta Pennata. “It's our history, our heritage,” he said. “We don't want to sell it because it's part of who we are.”
At least one is possible. Italian law gives any municipality the right to match the asking price of property of historical importance. The mayor is willing to spend his budget on purchasing for cultural activities and is hoping for help from the local government, but the potential amount is not close to the asking price, he said.
Instead, he wants to start with death and mobilize certain allies. City records show that between 1830 and 1860, about 1,000 people, many of them plagued the victims and were buried on the island. The location of the grave remains a mystery, but the cemetery is a public property, so the mayor suspects that the island may have been privatized using some kind of illegal bureaucratic shenanigans.
The sale includes 5,000 square meters of land (approximately 54,000 square feet) containing 200 square meters of corrupted homes. The house is different from the ruins of an old Roman villa, but it has also been reclaimed by the surrounding forests. Diretta Giorgoro, the home sales director at Sotheby's International in Italy, was last used by the grandfather of a family selling the land, and he was habitually sitting there to see migratory birds.
The island already falls within the general scope of the area's Park Service, so owners will need permission to landscaping like cut trees, Francesco Maisto said he is the president of the regional parks in Campi Fullgray. Its obligation extends to the surrounding water, an area protected for its rare Posidonian Sea grass.
“Even if you buy an island, you can't come and do what you want to do,” Meist said. “It's the green lungs of this area.”
Giorgoro preserves the island's idyllic yet historical character and portrays the ra of the restriction as a selling point. It also means that everything a new owner can do is renovate the home.
Even that is the subject of controversy. The original building permit allows for a 120-square-meter structure, so the mayor said an additional 80 square meters is suspect. Various bureaucratic hurdles may thwart buyers, the mayor said with a laugh. These hurdles include the sale and construction that requires his permission.
Giorgoro believes that anyone wanting to create a retreat will not be stopped. “It's going to be some kind of buyer,” she said. “It's probably not just for the rich, but for the simple people.”
Viewing will only begin when the weather improves. Not even shown to the mayor. The family who owns the island refused to ask for an interview, Giorgoro described the owner as “shy,” and the mayor said the Naples family had nuisanced the attention of all public opinion.
It's not much needed to reach Punta Pennata. It was once a peninsula rather than an island, until the raging storm of 1966 wiped out the sandy beaches that connected the beaches to the mainland. That side is now a popular beach, with a few yards available to the island's only landing, a small cement pier. From there, a tall, rusty fence blocks access.
Throughout Italy, the state owns coastline. In theory, the public could be careful along the edge of the ridge-like island, but there were no beaches, only steep cliffs and occasional rocky outcrops.
Some Bakoli residents doubt the wisdom of the city that acquires the island. 50-year-old Antonio Puglise, who promotes the use of traditional sailing vessels, thinks the island's parks are too expensive to maintain. However, most people who asked randomly around town supported the idea.
Within the Scaredak Deli in Keve, where cheese and ham harden on the rafters, Giuseppes Camardela offers visitors an array of local delicacies.
Scamardella, 67, is one of the few people in Bacoli who remembers being at Punta Pennata. As a boy, he collected mushrooms and wild asparagus, and his father hunted quail and rabbits. He has not been on the island since the storm.
Bakoli has to do something to compete for visitors. Otherwise, all young people will leave, he said, even if his daughter is the fifth generation to run a family store.
“If anyone buys an island, it's going to be awful,” Scammaldera said. “We lose a bit of Bakori's soul.”
Virginia digaetano contributed the report.
