Plans by Porsche heir Wolfgang Porsche to build a private access road and underground garage at a Salzburg villa once owned by writer Stefan Zweig have sparked accusations of double standards. The 82-year-old car magnate bought the 17th-century Paschinger Schlössl on the Kapuzinerberg hill in 2019 for around €9 million (£7.8m) and has been renovating it since.
Porsche secured permission from Salzburg authorities in early 2024 to dig a 500-metre road from a municipal car park through the limestone hill to a subterranean garage for eight cars. The project, estimated to cost €10 million, replaces an earlier rejected plan for a private lift. Critics say it hollows out the mountain for private gain and undermines trust in the rule of law.
Local resident Doris Rüggeberg, whose flat overlooks the villa, said the three-year renovation has been so noisy she sometimes cannot hear herself think. She fears the road work will worsen the disruption. “Porsche has done a lot for the local economy, but in this case the city has failed to negotiate properly,” she said. “All men are equal but some are more equal than others.”
The project was approved by the former conservative mayor; the new leftwing council inherited it. Mayor Bernhard Auinger, a former Porsche employee, said the “optics could be better” but he has little influence. The city planning committee argued the road is in the public interest because cars in the tunnel would not emit fumes or cause accidents—a claim critics call absurd.
Green councillor Ingeborg Haller led opposition, questioning the €48,000 fee Porsche paid for permission to cut through city-owned land. An independent expert said the fee was actually overpaid. Communist deputy mayor Kay-Michael Dankl said the affair reinforces perceptions of a two-tier justice system.
