Porsche’s billionaire chairman has angered locals with his plans to build a 500m tunnel and private garage under one of Salzburg's most recognisable landmarks.
Wolfgang Porsche, 81, wants to dig a passage beneath his €8.4million mansion on the Kapuzinerberg - a forested hill that overlooks the Austrian city.
The underground complex would allow the billionaire to park up to a dozen of his cars underneath the historic 17th-century villa.
But, although the city has granted preliminary approval for the tunnel, with Porsche paying €40,000 for access rights, local opposition has mounted, reports The Times.
Porsche purchased the sprawling stately home - Paschinger Schlössl - in 2020 but it is an integral part of Salzburg's mythology.
This is primarily because of the novelist Stefan Zweig, who acquired and renovated it in 1917.
Zweig wrote some of his best-known works in the mansion and hosted parties for so many famous writers that it was nicknamed the 'Villa Europe'.
He eventually left it when he moved to Britain in 1934, following the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany.
Wolfgang Porsche, 81, wants to dig a 500m passage and private garage beneath his mansion on the Kapuzinerberg - a forested hill and walking area that overlooks Salzburg
The underground complex would allow the billionaire to park up to a dozen of his cars underneath the historic 17th-century villa (pictured)
Pictured: Claudia Huebner and Wolfgang Porsche attend the 'La Clemenzia di Tito' premiere during the Salzburg Festival 2017
Porsche’s purchase of the villa has always been controversial as some councillors had wanted to turn it into a memorial museum.
But, tensions reached boiling point when Porsche became frustrated by the crowded and narrow roads leading up to his property.
Porsche turned to the city's former mayor, Harald Preuner, for help.
And, in February 2023, he was discreetly given permission to not only dig the 1,500sqm tunnel complex under his own land but also to use an existing publicly owned car park as an entrance.
He paid Salzburg city €40,000 (£33,000) for the privilege.
The details only came to light after a municipal election where the ruling conservative party was wiped out and the communist party made impressive headway.
Porsche’s purchase of the villa has always been controversial as some councillors had wanted to turn it into a memorial museum
The Porsche company, whose supervisory board is still chaired by Porsche, said the matter was a 'purely private property issue'. Pictured: Wolfgang Porsche Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Porsche Stands Next to a New Porsche Macan in 2014
The communist group on the city council is calling on the local authority to release the files.
The Green party councillors have also criticised the deal.
Ingeborg Haller, the party’s local leader, told Der Standard it was 'special treatment for the super-rich' and 'left a strange taste in the mouth'.
The Porsche company, whose supervisory board is still chaired by Porsche, said the matter was a 'purely private property issue'.
Bernhard Auinger, Salzburg’s new Social Democratic mayor, told Taz, a German newspaper, that it would have been 'smarter' to have made the public aware of the arrangement sooner, but it was not for him to judge whether the tunnel was 'suitable or morally justifiable'.
MailOnline has approached Harald Preuner for comment.
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