A Texan Taste of Italy

What: Six bedrooms, 8.5 baths in 12,900 square feet on 10 acres.

Where: Boerne, Texas

Amenities: Two-story house made of quarried stone from Guadalajara, Mexico, and stucco. Seven fireplaces, wine cellar, swimming pool, hot tub, putting green.

Asking Price: $4.4 million

Opening Bid*: $4.2 million

Agent: Phyllis Browning and Jason Glast, Phyllis Browning Co. (210) 408-4009

Due Diligence: When Larry and Sandra James finished building "La Jura," a two-story Italian-style villa on the southern edge of Texas Hill Country, in 2000, they wanted it to be their retirement home. The house, 30 miles northwest of San Antonio, took three years and more than $3.75 million to build, says Mrs. James, a retired business professor. (They bought the land for another $750,000 in 1996.) The grounds include a pool fed by waterfalls and views 600 feet over the surrounding countryside. The main residence has three wings, including a grand foyer with 11-foot arched doorways and a Cantera stone fireplace. After building the house, Mr. James, who heads an Internet wi-fi company, decided not to retire. So the couple is moving to a Louisiana location more convenient to his business interests.

Additional Photos

Photos by: John King Keisling

*The opening bid is Weekend Journal's estimate of a reasonable starting point for negotiations to buy the property, based on past sales, prevailing market conditions and interviews with local real-estate experts.

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