If you’ve been dreaming about living a new life under the Tuscan sun, now you can in Michelangelo’s former villa — currently on the market for US$ 9.3 million. The famed artist bought the sprawling 1200 square meters home located in Chianti, Italy in 1549, and it remained in the family until 1867. Today, the ten-bedroom manor — which is surrounded by the region’s iconic rolling green hills — was recently renovated to retain the historical character of the property. It even includes a copy of the original deed. The massive villa has been renovated to pay homage to its historic past, and the result is an idyllic property straight out of a fairy tale. A sturdy brick cladding covers the home, which sits on nearly 24 thousand square meters area covered with cypress and olive trees. Inside, the home includes 10 bedrooms and seven bathrooms, and a guest cottage is located on site. A brick vaulted ceiling opens up the main living room space, which also comes with a central stone fireplace and several seating nooks. An adjacent sitting room features beamed ceilings and another grand fireplace. Beautiful arched doorways and terracotta floors run throughout the interior and blend in nicely with the additional rooms’ white walls and ceilings. The home’s large kitchen comes with the original stone hearth and basin, as well as a backsplash made out of Tuscan ceramic tiles.

British architect David Chipperfield is to carry out major restoration works on the Procuratie Vecchie on Venice's Piazza San Marco, which will see the palace opened to the public for the first time in 500 years, reported The Dezeen. Due to be completed in 2020, the project will be a multi-million dollar undertaking for its owners, the Italian insurance company the Generali Group. For five centuries the building has been closed to the public, reserved for politicians and royalty. But once David Chipperfield and his studio complete the restoration work, the palace will become a venue for art exhibitions, installations and seminars. Built on top of stone arcades in the twelfth century, the Procuratie Vecchie runs along the north side of the iconic central square. At 152 meters long it is Venice's longest building. The original two-storey structure burnt down and was replaced in the 1530s by a three-storey structure in the early Renaissance classical style. Once at the heart of Venetian government, the building still has original frescos and ornate ceilings from the days it was used by the nine governors who aided the Doge administer the city-state known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice. At ground floor, the stone arcades are home to Venice's famous – and expensive – coffee shops, the oldest of which have been in situ since the 18th century. The restoration will also include opening a hidden passageway between Piazza San Marco and the Royal Gardens. The park on the bank of the Grand Canal has lain abandoned for years but now there are plans to restore a wisteria-covered pergola and plant an orangery. The unique location of Venice, a UNESCO World Heritage site, means all building materials will have to be bought in and out by boat along its canals.

Italy has earmarked over US$ 20 million to rebuild the arena floor in the Colosseum where gladiators once fought wild beasts, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini announced. The idea is that the arena could be used once more to house events and perhaps even re-enactments of spectacular Roman-era shows, while the area below where the beasts, scenery and props were kept would be turned into a museum. The planned arena reconstruction will not affect 48-meters high Colosseum walls, which continue to break down. The biggest amphitheater built during the Roman Empire, the Colosseum stands 48.5 meters high. In Rome times, up to 80 thousand spectators would throng there to see gladiator greats such as Carpophores -- who reportedly defeated a bear, lion, leopard and rhinoceros in one battle -- or cheer on mock sea battles held in the flooded arena. It now welcomes over six million visitors a year. Besides the Italian Government, in Colosseum restoration are engaged also philanthropists. Long-delayed repairs, funded to the tune of US$ 27.8 million by Italian billionaire Diego Della Valle, began in 2013 and are expected to be finished in early 2016. The Colosseum undertaking is just one of the country's US$ 89 million cultural maintenance projects, which includes US$ 20 million to update the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, $7.7 million to update Turin's Polo Reale museum, and $5.5 million to expedite the progress of Pisa's forthcoming museum of ancient ships.

One of the most distinctive properties in the world has gone on the market - a fortress turned luxury villa, designed by Leonardo Da Vinci, the famous Italian artist and inventor who painted Mona Lisa. The building, in Livorno, Italy, is currently on the books of property firm Lionard Luxury Real Estate and is expected to sell for between US$ 5.6 million and US$ 11.2 million. Perched on top of a cliff, the property overlooks the Mediterranean Sea in Tuscany, Livorno, Italy, about 56 miles from Florence, where the painter stayed while he worked in 1502. The prestigious residence is part of a larger complex built as a fortification for the defense of the city of Livorno in the mid - 1400s by a well-known Florentine architect. Da Vinci designed the great walls surrounding the historic estate and gardens while working as a military engineer and, later, in the 19th century Napoleon's sister, Princess Elisa Bonaparte, became the owner. The main villa features a total floor surface of 773 square meters over four floors and a basement level. It is constructed of stone and brick, with terracotta flooring and copper eaves. On the ground floor, which is connected to the upper levels by an internal staircase, there is a hallway that opens onto a living room with a view of the sea, a dining area, three closets, a passageway, a bathroom and changing room, kitchen and larder. The mezzanine mainly features closets while on the first floor are the sleeping quarters with five bedrooms, each with in-suite bathrooms. The top floor, traditionally used by staff, features a kitchen/diner, a bathroom and a bedroom. The basement, which includes a closet, is reached by an internal staircase on the north side of the villa.

A whopping Italian estate with a 12th-century medieval castle and a sprinkling of Tuscan farmhouses in the ground, is on market for US$ 29,3 million. According to The Telegraph, 14,3 thousand square meters mansion has 115 bedrooms, 100 bathrooms on the side. This castle just east of Siena, wrapped in 630 hectares planted with 1,500 olive trees producing award-winning olive oil, is thought to be the largest property in the world currently on the market. The setting in Tuscany, the medieval courtyard with tower and chapel, the Italianate gardens with palms and box hedges, the interiors with marble floors and elaborate painted ceilings, make it so romantic that it is sometimes hired for weddings. It goes without saying that there is plenty of room for guests to sleep, as well as pools for them to swim in. "It is exceptionally beautiful. There are many castles in Tuscany but very few are medieval," says the agent John Jonk of Sotheby's International "The approach to it is wonderful and you go into another world. There are thousands of wild boar and roe deer, magical woods, vineyards, olive groves and grain fields. On the estate it is always silent. The castle was built at a time just before Giotto, when the Renaissance lay around the corner and Siena was at war with Florence." From the 1400s it had been in the hands of the Piccolomini family until the current owners bought it more than 30 years ago. "The price is unusually low considering it provides 14,3 thousand square meters of accommodation. But this reflects the market in Europe at the moment." It is believed that Galileo Galilei stayed in the tower and must have gazed out upon the same night sky. How does it compare to other global Godzillas of the property world? One of the largest newly built palaces is the 27-storey skyscraper Antilia in Mumbai, India, which provides 37,1 thousand square meters of space, including six stories of parking lots, a lobby with nine elevators and several lounges, a ballroom with crystal chandeliers, swimming pool, bar, yoga studio, ice room, four-storey garden and private sleeping areas for a family of five. It is thought to have cost nearly US$ 2 billion to build and is the home of Mukesh Ambani, head of the India-based petrochemical Reliance Industries. According to therichest.com, the largest home is the Istana Nurul Iman Palace, at 200 thousand square meters. This is the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei and has 1,788 rooms, 257 bathrooms, five swimming pools, a 110-car garage, air-conditioned stable for 200 polo ponies, banquet hall, and a mosque large enough for 1,500 worshippers. Its estimated cost was US$ 2,08 billion.