Orban denies buying villa in Italy and threatens to sue Italian newspaper that claims so

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The May 5^th story was picked up by Budapest media, but the Hungarian Prime Minister  denied it, calling it fake news. The newspaper backed up its story

OSSIGENO, June 9^th  2025 – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has announced his intention to sue the newspaper ‘Domani’ for an article by journalist Stefano Vergine published on May 5^th  2025, (read here) which speculates that he is the real buyer of a villa on the shores of Lake Varese, near the Alpine foothills and the border between Italy and Switzerland. The property was purchased by a fund linked to the Hungarian government. Viktor Orbán denied the claim. The newspaper insists the story is correct.  The author of the article told Ossigeno that no lawsuit has been filed so far and is unlikely to arrive.

The news from ‘Domani’ was picked up by the Budapest media, creating a media and political storm, with attacks from the opposition parties in Parliament and the resulting fury of Viktor Orbán, who lashed out at Hungarian newspapers and the Italian daily, saying: “The fake news press invented the story that, in addition to zebras, I also own an Italian villa, but now legal action is being taken.”

THE ARTICLE – In response to the Hungarian Prime Minister’s threat, the newspaper owned by Carlo De Benedetti responded by confirming the story that they had reported: that a newly formed Hungarian company—controlled by a private equity fund managed until a few years ago by the Minister of Defence in Orbán’s government—purchased a large, luxurious villa on the shores of Lake Varese, near the Italian-Swiss border, from Margherita Maccapani Missoni, designer and heir to the famous fashion house, and Eugenio Amos, entrepreneur and pilot, for €4.3 million. A thousand square metres with a garden, swimming pool, gym, internal lift , and a 256-square-metre garage. The newspaper’s investigation did not provide formal, direct evidence, but it did piece together a series of significant, converging clues that led it to hypothesize that Viktor Orbán himself was behind the purchase of the villa.

STEFANO VERGINE – “We have not yet received notification of the lawsuit,” the journalist told Ossigeno. “In response to the scoop, on the day after its publication, Orbán wrote on his social media profiles: ‘Legal action against the press is underway.’ He has never clarified whether that threat was in reference to my article or those of some Hungarian newspapers that reported it,” Vergine continues. “I believe the goal was to dissuade other media from republishing the story. And, given how things turned out, it seems to me he has  succeeded.” LT