Late Swarovski Billionaire’s Private Island Near Venice, Italy, Asks €24 Million
A family trust for Gernot Langes-Swarovski, great-grandson of the crystal company’s founder, is selling the 72-acre Isola Santa Cristina.
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A private island near Venice, Italy, that was owned by an heir to the Swarovski crystal fortune is set to hit the market for the first time in 40 years with an asking price of €24 million (US$28.3 million), Mansion Global has learned.
Isola Santa Cristina is in the northern part of the Venetian Lagoon, about a 40-minute boat ride from Venice. Drawn to the area’s fishing culture, Gernot Langes-Swarovski, the great-grandson of Swarovski founder Daniel Swarovski, acquired the island in 1986, according to Venice Sotheby’s International Realty, which is marketing the property.
The 72-acre island became a retreat for Gernot Langes-Swarovski, who valued sustainability and nature and maintained it with respect for those concerns.
In fact, the island’s fish farming has been redeveloped in collaboration with Venice’s Ca’ Foscari University, according to Sotheby’s International Realty.
“Gernot Langes-Swarovski’s passion for agriculture, heritage and ecology made his stewardship of Isola Santa Cristina extremely personal, forging relationships with local centres of excellence, such as Ca’ Foscari University, which shared his passion and view,” said Dr Christoph Völk, chair of the trustees of SEGNAL Privatstiftung, the private family trust selling the island.
Today, the island’s landscape still includes much of Langes-Swarovski’s additions: apricot and plum orchards; an olive grove, roughly 7 acres of vineyards producing Merlot, Chardonnay and Cabernet grapes; a vegetable garden; and beehives that produce organic salt marsh honey.
In addition to being involved in the family business, Gernot Langes-Swarovski co-founded business jet operator Tyrolean Jet Services. In 2014, Forbes estimated he had a net worth of $1.3 billion. He died in 2021 at the age of 77.
After his death, ownership of the island was transferred into a family trust, and the property was previously operated by Gernot Langes-Swarovski’s stepson René Deutsch and his wife, Sandra, as a luxury retreat with “a limited number of bookings per year,” according to the island’s website.
The historic villa spans 9,250 square feet across four floors, and includes nine bedrooms, nine bathrooms, two reception rooms, a formal dining room and a chef’s kitchen, plus air conditioning throughout. A crystal chandelier remains in the villa as a nod to Langes-Swarovski’s stewardship of the island.
Outdoor features include a veranda with a large dining space and an open-fire rotisserie and grill; an altana, a traditional Venetian roof terrace; and a heated saltwater pool. A path from the villa leads down to a dock and boat house, and there’s also a mooring for up to five boats.
Across a pond from the main house, there’s a 6,080-square-foot farmhouse with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a yoga studio, as well as a self-contained apartment, also with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen.
The family trust has continued to invest in the island in keeping with Langes-Swarovski’s eco-friendly ideals, according to information provided by the brokerage.
Most recently, they’ve planned the installation of a new €2 million-plus Centro Tecnologico, a facility that will support the island’s technical services, water management and storage of agricultural equipment.
“The time is now right for stewardship of Isola Santa Cristina to pass to a new custodian,” Völk said, “who appreciates the uniqueness of the location and whose passion for ecology and the lagoon will ensure its future.”
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The imposing stone structures, with towers, turrets and a hot tub room, lord over the landscape near the mountain resort town of Sandpoint.
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Idaho is not a place that’s often associated with Medieval castles, but a pair have just hit the market for $6.25 million.
The imposing stone structures have towers, turrets, ramparts, arrow-slit windows and even a drawbridge, and might just be the most authentic-looking castles this side of the Atlantic.
“Who expects to see a castle like this in Idaho?” said listing agent Brenda Burk of Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, who brought the property to the market last week. They are, she said, “extremely unusual.”
Schweitzer Castle and Château de Melusine, as they’re known, stand within Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the Selkirk Mountains and overlook the nearby mountain resort town of Sandpoint. They take in panoramic views of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho’s largest lake.
The pair of ski-in/ski-out homes each have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three stories, Burk explained. They are “so authentic,” she said. “Every single stone was handlaid.”
Schweitzer Castle, she said, wasn’t built for “functionality,” but has been modernized and adapted and now has everything a 21st-century residence requires, along with a dungeon, which for some buyers may also be a requisite.
The chateau, meanwhile, has a hot tub room with mountain views, as well as a garage.
The property is being sold furnished, and will come complete with the hand-carved statues, armor, mounted swords, stained-glass windows and a host of antiques dating to the 15th and 16th centuries.
The owner, an antique collector who couldn’t be reached for comment, “is always looking for that hidden jewel and he found that here,” Burk said.
The next custodian is likely to stem from a varied pool of buyers, Burk said, that would include “the trophy-home buyer, someone who can say ‘I own a castle.’”
The property could also appeal to someone looking for a vacation home, or a multi-generational estate, and beyond that “there’s the dreamers,” she said. “We definitely try to market to people who like Medieval history or maybe do Renaissance fairs.”
The seller “really wants it to go to someone with the same passion.”
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