Dua Lipa and Callum Turner are set to celebrate their wedding at an Italian villa that has previously been at the centre of Sicily's 'Triangle of Death' and linked to the mafia.
The Sicilian villa is set to host the pair for a three-day celebration of their recent marriage at London's Old Marylebone Town Hall but has previously been linked to the mafia. Dua and Callum visited Palermo last summer and are now set to hold a ceremony and reception at Villa Valguarnera in Bagheria, which has been hailed as the 'most romantic villa in Sicily'.
Top names in showbiz are said to be attending, including Elton John, who collaborated with Dua on a song. Private jets are thought to be being used to ferry around the three hundred person guest list.
A Dark History
The villa, built in the 18th century, has been included in several films and TV shows, including The White Lotus. But it was also once a meeting point for the Palermo Intelligentsia and, in the 1980s, became a hub for the Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia. At the time, Bagheria, the town where the villa is located, was part of Sicily's Triangle of Death - an area that experienced a high volume of mob murders.
The villa became known as a place mafia members could hide, and was briefly home to Bernando Provenzano and Matteo Messina Denaro whilst they were on the run. While mobsters stayed at the villa, they were said to have trashed the place. Wild animals were allowed to roam free across the building and tore up the ballroom. A statue that stood in the garden also went missing after mobsters stayed.
By the late 1990s, the mafia had been ousted by the villa's owner Vittoria Alliata di Villafranca, who still lives at the villa to this day and is now very picky about who she rents to.
A New Chapter
Filippo Tripoli, Bagheria's mayor, told The Times that the town was rebuilding its reputation and that Dua Lipa was helping with that: 'Bagheria is bouncing back after years in which it was known for Mafia and violence, and Dua Lipa helps that process by putting it on the map for a different reason.'
The villa will host the couple's ceremony, and a party on the Saturday of their weekend-long celebrations. The whole weekend is thought to cost £1 million, as three hundred family and friends are said to be attending, reportedly flying in on Thursday with private jets. Private security has reportedly been hired, and they, along with staff, have all signed non-disclosure agreements.
The Sicilian wedding has reportedly been the topic on everyone's minds for days. According to Conde Nast, a Palermo source said: 'Everyone has been talking about this wedding for days. It's going to be so cool and glamorous with such a lot of showbiz stars. We all have a soft spot for Dua because she always speaks so highly of the city and loves wearing the football shirt of the city's club. But things are being kept very closely guarded with screens going up and people having to sign confidentiality agreements.'
