Antonio Banderas buys Málaga penthouse after split from Melanie Griffith

Spanish actor Antonio Banderas and US actress Melanie Griffith are reorganizing their lives after announcing their divorce earlier this month.

Their decision, which was described as mutual, ends an 18-year-marriage that produced one daughter, Stella del Carmen.

Griffith, 56, made a public appearance on Tuesday evening at the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily, where she showed up with no wedding ring and her husband’s name removed from her arm tattoo.

Meanwhile, Banderas, 53, has bought himself a new penthouse in the center of Málaga, his home town. The actor is planning to move out of Los Angeles once his daughter starts college and spend more time in Spain. He will keep another property in the US, but probably in New York. The star of the Zorro films always said he did not like living in L.A..

His new place in Málaga is a sixth-floor penthouse located on Alcazabilla street, a stone’s throw from the historic city monuments of the Alcazaba Moorish fortress and the Roman Theater. The balcony has views of the Picasso Museum and the old Customs building, which will one day house the Museum of Málaga.

More to the point, it also affords great views of the Easter religious processions that Banderas loves so much and takes part in every year.

Refurbishment work on the property could be completed by the end of the summer. “He is a real Málaga man and for a long time he had been wanting to have his own place right in the heart of Málaga, in the middle of things,” said a family friend.

Observers were surprised when Banderas showed up for his annual Easter visit this year without his wife, who was also a devout follower of the processions. It was soon after that visit that news emerged of their divorce proceedings.

Banderas owns another residence in Marbella that will be part of the amicable asset division being negotiated by the couple’s lawyers. The US press reports that the couple own a joint fortune of $50 million.