I begged and begged and even offered cash but he wasn’t gonna change his mind. I asked if I could go in for a few moments to take a photo or two but he said it wasn’t possible as it might upset the other guests.
I asked in my bad Italian if he spoke English to which he thankfully said yes. Luckily, as soon as I arrived at the villa a young guy in his twenties was going in the side gate. At worst this is all I thought I might get as the villa is a private home but I was determined to try and get in somehow.
This is easy enough to copy as one can just poke their camera through the gates and snap away.