Fittingly for a performer whose 17 pop and opera albums have sold more than 50m copies, music is everywhere in his new home in the chic Tuscan coastal resort of Forte dei Marmi, 20 miles north of Pisa. The villa, once a derelict hotel, has two grand pianos (one on each of the first two floors); a recording studio; and 200-watt loudspeaker systems that look fit for a concert stage. Does he ever have complaints about noise? The quietly spoken Bocelli, 47, chuckles.
“It’s true my speakers are a bit above average,” he says, “but the neighbours usually aren’t here because they tend to just come for the summer. And, anyway, I’ve put in double glazing everywhere.” A rare case of trying to keep the sound in, not out.
Bocelli moved into the early 19th-century house last year to be close to his sons, Amos, 11, and Matteo, 8, who live nearby with his former wife, Enrica. He has lived in Forte dei Marmi — Giorgio Armani and Miuccia Prada also have homes here — since 1997, liking it for its clean sea air, as he suffers allergies.
His new place is in the austere neoclassical style typical of the Italian Riviera. Set among pines and within earshot of the waves, it sprawls over more than 1,000 sq m. The first two floors are for entertaining and work; the nine bedrooms, five with their own bathrooms, are on the third floor. The grounds are not huge, but there’s room for his boys to kick a ball around, and he may convert a derelict outbuilding into more accommodation.
The singer doesn’t officially own the villa: he rents it from a company legally represented by his brother, Alberto, an architect who handled the renovation. Bocelli is loath to talk about his part in the work, nor will he say what it cost. Initially he says he had nothing to do with it. Surely he told Alberto what he wanted? “No, no, I was too busy; I was travelling all over the place.”
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His girlfriend, Veronica Berti, a lively 24-year-old, cheerfully contradicts him: “It was his idea to knock down bedroom walls on the first floor and create a big space for guests and a piano.”
When he’s at home, Bocelli loves to entertain — he has two live-in cooks — and it’s reflected in the layout. Sitting rooms lit by Murano chandeliers flank the hallway; similar lighting graces the formal dining rooms on the ground and first floors. There is a big table in the rustic kitchen, which has a sloping wooden ceiling. The furnishings are mostly contemporary, in soft, pastel colours. Bocelli chose the velvet-like cloth for the sofas. The first-floor music room is adorned by awards and posters of his albums.
Bocelli maintains he’s uninterested in interior design, but finally concedes that he helped design the large fireplace, made of local marble, as are most of the floors, the bathrooms and the terraces front and back. Running his fingers along the mantle’s ornate carving, he explains: “In winter, I spend most of my time by the fire. I like it; it reminds me of when I was a kid.
“I’m a typical Tuscan. We’re a bit parochial, we’re very tied to our land and to our family. Even the local accent is important to me.” Despite his wealth, he says he doesn’t own any houses: “I have no idea how much this place would cost.”
It’s clear he still likes the simple life, but his lifestyle is a far cry from his roots. His parents sold farm machinery and made wine in the tiny village of Lajatico, 30 miles from Pisa. Bocelli’s mother, Edi, 67, and Alberto still live in the family home. Bocelli lost his vision at 12 as a result of glaucoma and an accident while playing football.
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What does he like about his home? “It’s close to my sons, and it’s very quiet. I’m lazy, and when I’m here I lead an absolutely normal life.” He admits he rises early, and spends mornings working on his singing. “If something is puzzling me technically, I’ll even sit up in bed at three in the morning and sing the bit that’s worrying me.”
Berti chips in again. “You get up at night to go to the gym, too! At four in the morning there’s this noise, ‘thud, thud, thud’, when you’re on the machines.”
Bocelli looks briefly startled, mumbling that the gym isn’t really a gym, it’s tiny, and he does almost nothing. But Berti is in full flow: “He works out on the weights, and on the treadmill. He also has a machine for his abdominal muscles.”
Bocelli is much more forthcoming when asked about music. “I must show you something on the ground floor,” he volunteers for the first time. He takes the lift down from the first floor — “Lazybones!” taunts Berti, who takes the stairs — and, in a small room by the kitchen, he opens a big wardrobe with a flourish. Neatly placed in faded brown wrappers and hanging baskets are LP records: La Traviata, La Bohème, Carmen — all opera, his real love, despite his pop success.
Bocelli smiles warmly and waves towards them. “Bellissimo!”
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Andrea Bocelli’s album Amore is released by Decca on March 6