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Fans to be fined €500 for snooping on Clooney

The Local Italy
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Fans to be fined €500 for snooping on Clooney
It will be illegal to come within 100 metres of George Clooney's Villa Oleandra, pictured, and Villa Margherita on Lake Como. Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP

Anyone who dares to approach actor George Clooney’s two Lake Como homes will be fined up to €500.

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He’s long been an honorary citizen of Laglio and now the town’s mayor has moved to protect the star’s privacy even more by making it illegal for anyone to approach Villa Oleandra and Villa Margherita.

Mayor Roberto Pozzi has introduced a fine of up to €500 for anyone who comes within 100 metres of the villas, either by water or by road.

A source at the town hall confirmed the move following a report in the British newspaper, The Telegraph, on Monday.

Clooney, who married barrister Amal Alamuddin last September, paid €7.5 million for the 18th century Villa Oleandra in 2001.

Needless to say, the home, previously owned by the Heinz family, has since been persistently besieged by fans and photogaphers.

Clooney later bought the adjoining Villa Margherita in a bid for more seclusion.

The ordinance follows one in 2013 banning people from gathering outside the homes.

Pozzi said at the time: "Clooney has the right to be left alone like any other tourist on holiday."

Still, Clooney's presence has boosted tourism to the area, as well as local property prices.

The actor once said the purchase of Villa Oleandra changed his life in a "very pleasant and unexpected way".

"I realized how beautiful life was in Italy and how it really helped calm me and not feel so pressured,” he said.

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