Dame Helen Mirren buys Italian castle

Dame Helen Mirren has bought a 500-year-old castle in Italy.

The Oscar winning actress paid £680,000 for the rural pile, in the Puglia region, which is currently so run down it is uninhabitable, according to the Daily Mail.

She is said to have been working on plans for the castle and its surrounds and hopes refurbishment will start in the summer. Its estate is home to a mature vineyard and is half a mile fom the Mediterranean.

US director Taylor Hackford, Dame Helen's husband, was reportedly in nearby village Tiggiano with her last week. They were welcomed to the area by locals and civic heads, says the paper, and were even given a cake decorated with a scene from The Queen.