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Lawsuit Threatens NYU’s $1 Billion Italian Campus: Telegraph

Lawsuit Threatens NYU’s $1 Billion Italian Campus: Telegraph

(Bloomberg) -- An Italian princess could inherit a portion of a billion dollar estate that was mainly left to New York University in 1994, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

A Florence court ruled that Dialta Orlandi, who married a Sicilian prince, is the granddaughter of Arthur Acton, a British art dealer. His son Harold, who died childless in 1994, left most of his property and art collection to NYU in 1994, including a 60-room Florentine villa decorated with 6,000 objects including Flemish tapestries, French dresses and Chinese ceramics.

The ruling strengthens Orlandi’s inheritance claims that date back to 1995, when her mother Liana Beacci claimed to be the daughter of Arthur. NU has fought against the paternity claims since then. Italian inheritance laws make it illegal to discriminate against children who were born out of wedlock.

“It’s a great satisfaction,” Orlandi told the New York Post. “It’s about 25 years that NYU has fought us not to have the paternity of my mother recognized. Finally, the respect and consequent rights that are owed to my mother for much too long have been given to her.”

The university said it was reviewing the ruling and deciding whether to appeal. “Importantly this decision relates to paternity and has no bearing on the inheritance claims, which remain before the court,” spokesman John Beckman said.

NYU’s website describes the Villa La Pietra as the “jewel in the crown,” of its global program. The Florentine campus includes four other villas and hosts poetry reading, concerts, performance and lectures. NYU itself is one of Italy’s bedrock expat organizations.

The villa has a storied history. Guests have included Queen Elizabeth II, painter Pablo Picasso and Winston Churchill, and owners before the Acton family included the Medici banking family.

The case will now go before Italy’s Supreme Court.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Metcalf in London at tmetcalf7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Ian Fisher, James Ludden

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