Messi and Antonela's Four Homes: a 10,000-Square-Meter Estate Near Barcelona, an Ibiza Villa Bought for About 11 Million Euros and a Miami House With Two Boat Docks

Lionel Messi said goodbye to Argentina's national team in a match against Benin. The end of an era is a good excuse to look at how he lived while it lasted - and the answer comes in four addresses. Each of the houses he and Antonela Roccuzzo built matches a stage of their life, from the years of glory in Catalonia to the new beginning in Florida.

1. Castelldefels, Barcelona: the made-to-measure house

They bought the property in Castelldefels, near Barcelona, in 2010, and over the years expanded it to around 10,000 square meters of land. The house was designed to their order and has everything a family with lots of money and little privacy could want: two pools, a spa, a gym, a library, a padel and football court - and a view of the sea. It is the home of the years when Messi and the club could hardly be imagined apart.

2. Funes, Rosario: stone and wood from home

In Funes, next to his native Rosario, the family house is built from local materials - walls of rough stone and beams of solid wood. It is the warmest of the four, but not the most modest: it has a private cinema, a garage for 15 vehicles, a games room, sports courts and a party hall. Stone and wood from the surrounding area is an old logic that anyone who grew up in an old village house in the Balkans knows well: material from close by, built to last for generations.

3. Cala Tarida, Ibiza: the white summer

They bought the villa in Ibiza, in Cala Tarida near Sant Josep, in May 2022 for about 11 million euros. It sits on a 16,000-square-meter plot and is typically Ibizan: whitewashed, open to the sun, made for long summer evenings. It has six bedrooms, room for 12 guests, a gym and a party room.

4. Bay Colony, Miami: minimalism under guard

The move to the US brought the house in the Bay Colony neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale, bought for about 10 million dollars. It was built in 1988 and expanded in 2000. It has 10 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, a spa and two boat docks, with a minimalist design, at the end of a cul-de-sac and under 24-hour security. The family also has apartments in Miami - in the Porsche Design Tower and in Sunny Isles.

Looking at the four houses together, the luxury is no surprise for a footballer with a career like his. But the one that says the most about the man is the one in Rosario - built of stone and wood, where he started. How many of us, if we could build anywhere, would go back to exactly that place?