It's been sitting alone, marooned in the Tuscan countryside for nearly three decades, alive with colour but otherwise dead - until now. Sammezzano Castle is finally up for sale.

Originally a medieval castle built in 1605, then remodelled as a kaleidoscopic Moorish palazzo in the 19th century, it was fleetingly a hotel in the 1970s that failed to balance the books and since then has existed in a vacuum, owned by an English-Italian company, obviously too precious to lose, seemingly too expensive to renovate to its full majesty.

Unless, that is, you have £14,428,900: its newly announced asking price.

What exactly does this buy me?

A 58,448-sq-ft three-storey castle with a clock tower facade, 365 rooms - one for every day of the year, each with its own name and decorative twist - set on 65 acres of exotic parkland in Reggello, 17 miles south-east of Florence. That, and more than 400 years of tantalizing history.

I'm intrigued, do go on...

Sammezzano was built in 1605 by the Spanish nobleman Ximenes of Aragon, and later inherited by Ferdinando Panciatichi Ximenes, who really went to town on its renovation between 1853 and 1889, transforming it into a Moorish-inspired architectural fandango.

Ferdinando, described by the society that later oversaw the estate as having a "sophisticated, complex and restless personality", was evidently a character. Though he held no degree, he proved himself to be an accomplished architect and botanist, commanding the palazzo’s metamorphosis in painstaking detail.

Amazingly, he is thought never to have visited the Eastern kingdoms on which his masterpiece was modelled, instead basing the designs on books he fastidiously studied.

The finished product comprised of the since widely photographed Peacock Room, an exquisite cataclysm of coloured tiles; the White Room, with Moroccan mosaic floors and chandelier decked ceilings; as well as other chambers with fanciful names including the Hall of Mirrors, the Stalactites and the Lovers.

One of its many archways bears the phrase "non plus ultra", meaning "the highest point of culmination", a reversal of "plus ultra" (deriving from Latin to mean "further beyond", the national motto of Spain) - perhaps, it has been suggested, communicating Ferdinando's desire to take visitors figuratively out of this world.

The grounds drew from Arabesque influences too, with pools, fountains, terracotta garden ornaments, a bridge; but also what now amounts to Italy's largest collection of giant sequoia trees, all exceeding 115 ft in height, which Ferdinando had imported from California.

In 1878, Sammezzano hosted the king of Italy, Umberto I, according to a biography on the monarch. Ferdinando died in 1897, leaving his estate to his descendants, after which the history books go rather more quiet until after the Second World War.

Sammezzano had always had the elaborate visual appeal of a hotel, and opened as such in the 1970s, its 365 rooms ringing with the chatter of chic guests, but only for a while. Ultimately, the number of paying customers could never keep up with the cost of maintenance, and it shut shop in the 1990s.

What happened between then and now?

Not a lot. Sammezzano underwent some restoration 1999, but according to Visit Tuscany it has since been largely abandoned and closed to the public. In April 2012, a non-profit committee was formed to promote and hopefully rescue the Sammezzano, FPXA 1813-2013, an acronym for its creator, Ferdinando Panciatichi Ximenes d'Aragona.

Occasionally guided tours were organised for visitors, and the palace gained something of a cult status among photographers.

According to The Spaces, Sammezzano was purchased at auction in 2017 for €15m (£13.3m), but whether it underwent any restoration under this ownership before being put back on the market this month is unknown.

What does the £14m not buy me?

Central heating, water, or any furniture. Nor does the property guarantee a commercial success, based on its brief stint as a hotel. That said, in the right hands, the undeniable Instagramablity of Sammezzano in today’s world could just sway its fortunes, at last, in the right direction.

I want it, how can I buy it?

Good for you. It's being sold by Coldwell Banker Luxury, an American-based estate agent with an outpost in Rome.