NEW YORK – The Italian Ambassador to the United Nations, Maurizio Massari, has a new home in the prestigious and expensive upper east side of Manhattan that cost as much as dlrs 26 million, diplomatic sources say. The previous NY home of Massari was deemed “inadequate” and “cramped” by the Italian ambassadors, valued at a mere dlrs 19 million.

 The new Manhattan Mansion is 1000 square metres in size, and five storeys high. Located in the sophisticated Carnegie Hill neighbourhood, the house is virtually next to Central Park. The house includes: five bedrooms, two separate outdoor terraces, two gyms, eight bathrooms, a Turkish bath and sauna, five fireplaces and a butler's kitchen in addition to the master chef's kitchen. On the third floor, there’s a majestic library “clad in knotty pine imported from England and a drawing room modelled on the library at Kenwood House in London.” All floors are connected by an internal lift. More than a house or a palace, it’s described as “a unique piece of Manhattan history.”

 Il Fatto Quotidiano commented, “It sounds like a joke, but it isn't: while the Meloni government was putting the cross on the Citizenship Income and arguing over the details of a financing without discounts, on the other side of the world its diplomacy was giving itself over to luxury real estate.”

 The foreign ministry confirmed the acquisition of the state property. The contract was signed during Thanksgiving week and finalised a few days before the end of 2022. The transaction is so recent that which budget chapter it will be charged to is still up in the air. The ministry pointed out that the current residence of the head of the UN mission, located at 16 76th street, was old and “inadequate for the needs of institutional representation” due to its “cramped spaces.” 

 Therefore, it was decided to buy the new one immediately and put the former $19 million one up for sale. But while waiting for this to happen, today's residences have become two, with relative costs: the mansion is listed as sold, with reports of annual expenses of $137,328, more than 11 thousand euros per month.

 The iconic red-brick mansion is a historic property known as the “Emily Trevor Mansion,” named after the philanthropist who had it built in 1928 by the legendary Mott Schmidt, an architect known for his classical Georgian buildings. “A unique piece of Manhattan history,” guarantees Maison Global. The Ministry provides no other details, but records show that the property was purchased in January 2020 for $14.3 million. Italy bought it for 26, at a 10 per cent discount on the initial asking price, but still almost double the 2020 price.

 The purchase, as reported in Italian media, has been deemed quite controversial given the current European economic climate. Prices of petrol and other energy as well as general costs of living are on the rise, and Il Fatto commented, “Italians perhaps don't even know, or are just fine with it, that Italy with no money to discount petrol allows itself the luxury of much more. And without batting an eyelid.”

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