On the home fronts

 

Francis Ford Coppola is looking for a small villa on the Italian isle of Ischia. The "Godfather" director fell in love with the place when he stayed at the Hotel Regina Isabella during the Ischia Film Festival. Mira Sorvino bought a home in Venice - California, that is. The Oscar winner paid $1.7 million for a Craftsman-style house around the corner from Julia Roberts, Anjelica Huston and Dennis Hopper. Halle Berry bought a Hollywood Hills pad from 19-year-old "Malcolm in the Middle" star Frankie Muniz for nearly $6 million. Diane Keaton didn't plan on selling her Spanish Colonial in Bel-Air. But then a guest at the Los Angeles Conservancy benefit held there offered her close to $17.2 million for it. Keaton, who paid about $6 million for it in 2003, couldn't refuse, according to the Los Angeles Times. Back in 2000, the renovation addict sold her newly refurbished home in Beverly Hills to Madonna for $6.5 million. Divorce in the making

 

Actor Eddie Murphy's wife of 12 years, Nicole, filed for divorce from the star Friday, his publicist said. No further details were disclosed. Murphy, 44, issued a statement saying, "The welfare of our children is our main concern, and their best interests are our first priority." The "Saturday Night Live" alumnus and star of such films as "Beverly Hills Cop" and remakes of "Dr. Dolittle" and "The Nutty Professor" has five children with the former Nicole Mitchell, a model, whom he married in March 1993. Murphy also has a son from a previous relationship. News of the divorce filing was first reported by the syndicated TV show "Access Hollywood." Murphy made headlines in 1997 when the car he was driving was stopped by undercover sheriff's deputies in Los Angeles after he had picked up a transvestite suspected of prostitution. Murphy, who was not arrested, said then he had been out for a late-night drive and had merely offered to give the individual he thought was a woman a ride home. Side dish

 

● Discovery space shuttle astronaut Steve Robinson must have known space is no place to settle down. He brought along a copy of the Men's Journal issue with the cover story about "The 50 Best Places to Live." ● Singer Annie Lennox and actor David Spade toasted the first anniversary of Dirty Sue's in L.A. with Eric Tecosky and Terry Fradet's dirty martinis.