Helen Mirren is having a hard time building her Italian dream home.
The Academy Award-winning actress has run into opposition from local planners in her attempt to build a beachside retreat in southern Italy, according to The Telegraph. Police are accusing her of disrupting the area’s natural beauty by adding a new retaining wall to the house.
The property is located at Torre Nasparo in the Puglia region, and Mirren and her husband were planning to spend up to roughly $340,000 to restore the house. Construction on the project stopped after prosecutors opened an investigation.
Police are now looking into allegations that include illegal construction, disfiguring natural beauty and doing renovations without the right permits. Builders also may have exceeded the height limit on certain walls.
“This has struck Dame Helen like a bolt from the blue,” her attorney Pietro Nuccio told The Telegraph. “She never expected this.” [The Telegraph] – Eddie Small