21-year-old Sannazzaro Natta lives in an extraordinary Italian castle and shows off her ‘fairytale life’ on TikTok and Instagram.
She is descended from Italian nobility and moved into the 45-room fairytale castle in Giarole, northern Italy when she was just four years old.
Sannazzaro Natta lives in a castle
Sannazzaro Natta told CNN the previous generation used Castle Sannazzaro as a summer home, but her parents decided to move there full-time in 2006.
She said it was “so normal” for her, adding: “It was just my home and where I was going to live for the rest of my life.”
However, the castle is far from normal. It has 18 bedrooms, nine bathrooms and various others including a library, ballroom and chapel.
She recalled running around the castle as a child and said: “My parents couldn’t find me sometimes because I thought it was so funny to hide inside closets.”
It was the perfect place to recreate the “fantasy worlds” of Harry Potter and Narnia which she loved as a young girl.
Inside Castle Sannazzaro
The castle’s website reveals the building dates back to an 1163 decree given to four knights: Guido, Burgundio, Assalito and Raineri de Santo Nazario.
The Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I gave Sannazzaro the right to build a grand castle wherever he wanted.
Its original structure was modified several times, but it now takes on a neo-gothic style with north and west wings.
The castle is surrounded by a large 23,000 square metre garden with huge trees, stables, a church and a hidden Ice House.
There are secret passages to nearby castles too, and the ghost of a young painter called Grosso who fell off a ladder is said to haunt it.
Living in a castle wasn’t always easy
As she grew up, Sannazzaro Natta didn’t know how to tell people about living in a castle and worried it would change their view.
She soon realised that living in a castle wasn’t normal after all, but it is very “unique and special” with 900 years of history.
After finishing high school, she went to study musical theatre in Los Angeles and New York and decided to no longer hide her background.
“I’m not going to hide a part of me just because I’m scared of what they’re going to think. If they really want to know me, they’re going to know me with this specific thing, because it is part of me,” she said.
However, she had to return home due to the COVID-19 pandemic and now shows off the beautiful home on Instagram and TikTok.
“A glimpse into my fairytale life,” her Instagram bio says – and she has accumulated more than 1.7 million TikTok followers.
Her TikToks are comedic, with funny skits like pretending to be Jack Sparrow in the castle and completing her step goal in the huge building.