A stunning home on the French Riviera that was once owned by Edith Piaf is on the market for almost US$ 5.25 million. She bought the four-bedroom property in Grasse on the French Riviera in the 1950s and lived there until her death from liver cancer in 1963, at the age of 47. The refurbished property on the south east coast of France is surrounded by countryside, being between the two pretty villages of Mougins and Valbonne. The grounds are extensive and include a tennis court, an outdoor swimming pool and a pool house. In addition, there are three separate guest suites and a two-bedroom guardian's cottage. The landscaped gardens include a lawn area with Mediterranean shrubs, mature trees and enough space for a helicopter to land. Inside of the property, there is a stone archway separating the kitchen and dining room, as well as exposed stone walls in the living area. There is pretty floor tiling throughout much of the house, with wooden ceiling beams and large doors opening out to the garden. Carlton International, the estate agents handling the sale, said: 'The property makes the perfect family home, ideal for entertaining.' It added: 'This was the former home of one of the most famous, internationally renowned french singers of the twentieth century. 'It is a stunning property in the heart of the countryside, enjoying complete quiet.' And buying agent Henry Pryor said: 'Properties with this history are always going to create a stir, especially on the French Riviera. 'The agent's problem won't be getting someone to view it, but holding back the tour buses who would like to see it.

Pablo Picasso's granddaughter is selling his villa in Cannes and 126 of his ceramics as she tries to shake off unhappy childhood memories of the artist. Marina Picasso, 64, remembers being taken to the gates of the grand three-storey house, La Californie, by her impoverished father, Paulo, to beg for handouts from an indifferent Picasso. The sale "will be a way for me to turn the page on a rather painful story," told Marina Picasso. She has reportedly received an offer of nearly US$ 172 million for the 1920 villa that she inherited at the age of 22, along with an extensive collection of his works. Sotheby's expects the ceramics to fetch up to US$ 9.2 million. "It's not a house where I have a lot of good memories," she said. "I saw very little of my grandfather there. With hindsight, I understand that he may have been captivated by painting and nothing else was more important to him. Except when you're a child, you don't experience it like that." Picasso bought the villa in 1955 and painted one of his most famous works there, The Bay of Cannes. He moved out in 1961 after his view of the sea was blocked by a new building. Marina Picasso renovated the villa in 1987 and renamed it the "Pavillon de Flore", although it is better known as "La Californie". Marina Picasso says the sale will help her broaden her philanthropic projects. She funds a children's hospital in Vietnam and programs to help troubled teenagers and the elderly in Switzerland, where she spends much of her time. Picasso lived at La Californie with his second wife, Jacqueline Roque, who barred Marina Picasso and her brother Pablito from the artist's funeral. Pablito Picasso committed suicide a few days later. Marina Picasso's father was Picasso's son by his first wife, Olga Khokhlova, a Russian-Ukrainian ballerina. He was humiliated by being forced to work as the artist's chauffeur.

The Greek IRS is preparing to sell, through an online auction, 1,500 villas in tourist resorts in the country, such as Santorini, Rhodes, Kos, Porto Heli, Paros, Mykonos and other, because their owners do not comply with their tax obligations. After having exhausted all relevant stages, from the notice to the seizure, the next step for the Operational Collection Unit and the Recovery Control Center for Taxpayers with Great Riches, is the auctions in order to enable the Greek government to collect taxes from the wealthy that are hiding from IRS. "The money might have gone abroad, real estate, however, have stayed in Greece", say the administrator staff of the Ministry of Finance, who is handling the case. The Finance Ministry plans to auction the said real estate through the electronic auction platform e-Auction that the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund's (HRADF) uses for the sale of public real estate. They believe that they will attract a strong interest from abroad (from wealthy Arabs, Russians, Americans, Chinese, Germans, etc.), because they are premium properties, as opposed to apartments and residential properties that have lost their value, or land without clear legal ownership status that scare investors, which results in their auctions proving infertile. The Finance Ministry bets that there will always be those financially strong who will seek to acquire a privileged or unique property with just a few clicks. The draft for the auction of such property has other advantages as well: Instead of the IRS chasing people with low incomes and create a humanitarian issue, they aim at owners with expensive and luxurious properties who can live in smaller houses, which they usually own. Moreover, the high value of property (hundreds of thousands or even millions of euro), is a guarantee that the government will find money to settle the debt in full, so that the debtors will not remain "captives" of the IRS.