Villa La Leopolda

Villa La Leopolda is a large villa on the French Riviera at Villefranche-sur-Mer, in the Alpes-Maritimes, standing on an estate of about 7.3 hectares that once belonged to King Leopold II of Belgium, from whom it takes its name. It was built between 1929 and 1931 by the American architect Ogden Codman Jr, who designed it in a neo-Palladian style evoking the Belle Epoque. Later owners included Fiat president Gianni Agnelli and his wife Marella and the Canadian philanthropist Dorothy J. Killam, and the Lebanese-Brazilian banker Edmond Safra and his wife Lily Safra bought the property in 1987. Lily Safra, the last of the couple, died in 2022, and the villa has remained in Safra family ownership.