Oh, la vita bella, all right. And getting more so by the minute.
Just when it seemed like Venice couldn't get any more picturesque comes word that Johnny Depp is apparently taking a page from the George Clooney playbook and putting down roots in Italy.
So at least The Tourist was good for something. Other than punching up Ricky Gervais' Golden Globes monologue, that is. According to the Daily Mail (and countless proud Italian news outlets), Depp was so inspired by the city while filming that he recently plunked down a whopping $13.7 million for a vacation home in the sinking city.
And here we had only just come to terms with losing Depp to France. Have we lost him to Italy, too? Hold onto your passports, this rumor is...
So false!
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For now, anyway.
Depp's rep told E! News definitively that "he did not" buy a vacation home in Italy.
But that didn't stop numerous international outlets from going into an astounding amount of detail about the supposed terms of the would-be purchase.
According to La Nuova Venezia--which might want think about increasing the size of its fact-checking department--Depp supposedly got into a bidding war with (who else?) an Arab prince over the property, which, incidentally, is said to be something of a fixer-upper. At least as far as 17th century palazzos on the Grand Canal go.
Still, good news for that prince. Not to mention our own American royalty--guess that country's only big enough for one movie star at the moment.
--Additional reporting by Ashley Fultz
VIDEO: Get it straight from the horse's mouth--hear Johnny talk about his Tourist experience!