Rome
CNN
—
Princess Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi – formerly Rita Carpenter, the former wife of Republican US Rep. John Jenrette – has been evicted from the home she once shared with the late Prince Nicolo Boncompagni, after an inheritance dispute with his children.
Princess Rita confirmed her eviction from the historic Casino dell’Aurora in central Rome to CNN on Wednesday. The home features an original Caravaggio ceiling painting—the only known ceiling work from the master—and a Michelangelo statue recently unearthed in the garden.
Rita was escorted from the home along with her dogs on Thursday. “I’ve been up for 72 hours, I’m being brutally evicted from a home [in] which I’ve lovingly taken care of for the past 20 years,” she tweeted early Thursday morning.
The eviction was ordered by Rome Judge Miriam Iappelli, and carried out by Roman law enforcement, who also changed the locks per standard procedure for court-ordered evictions.
Italian courts have previously ruled that the home must be sold to resolve an inheritance dispute between the Texan and the prince’s children. Prince Nicolo Boncompagni died in 2018.
The Casino dell’Aurora was put up for auction by state authorities four times in 2022 – its estimated value declining precipitously as bidders proved elusive.
The first auction on January 18, 2022, estimated the home’s value at €471 million. A second auction April 30 set the price at €376 million, a third auction reduced the price to €301 million on June 30, and a final auction October 18 set the price at €180 million.
No one bid on any of the auctions, and Princess Rita told CNN she believed that the Italian state auction house did not adequately advertise it.
Before becoming a princess, Rita Carpenter was married to John Jenrette, the former US lawmaker who was enmeshed in the Abscam corruption scandal, resigned in 1980 and subsequently went to prison.
In 1981, she gave an much-publicized interview to Playboy magazine that detailed having sex with Jenrette on the steps of the US Capitol building. The episode led to a not-so-best selling memoir “My Capitol Secrets” published that year.
She appeared in plays and movies, including Zombie Island Massacre, according to her official biography.
Princess Rita told reporters at the Casino dell’Aurora as she left on Thursday that she is writing a new book about her latest ordeal.
