Cruise, Holmes to marry in castle near Rome-paper

MILAN, Nov 7 (Reuters) Could an imposing medieval castle near Rome be the secret location for the wedding of Hollywood hunk Tom Cruise and his actress fiancee Katie Holmes? Italian newspaper Il Messaggero emerged from the frenzy of a media hunt for a celebrity wedding site to report today that the ''Mission: Impossible'' star and his future bride plan to marry at Castello Odescalchi on the shores of Lake Bracciano.

The identification of Odescalchi, a castle which has hosted a pope and kings, may be the end of the trail for reporters who have been trying to track down the Cruise-Holmes venue ever since the couple announced their nuptials last month.

But a receptionist at the castle told Reuters the report was not true and that it had no such booking.

The paper wrote there would be a warm-up party with other celebrities on November. 16, a Catholic wedding ceremony for the pair on November. 17 and a final ritual on November. 18 conducted by Scientology, the church founded by science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard and of which Cruise is a member.

Rome-based Il Messaggero did not say how the twice-divorced Cruise could have a Catholic wedding.

The couple announced in October that they would get married on Nov. 18 in Italy, with Giorgio Armani designing Holmes' wedding gown. Since then, the tabloid hunt has been on to find the exact location, with northern Italian lakes Garda and Como also mentioned as possible wedding sites.

Europe has already provided backdrops to some of the most public moments for ''TomKat'', as tabloids have dubbed the couple: Cruise, 44, told reporters in Rome about the joy of changing baby daughter Suri's nappies, and the two announced their engagement at a Paris news conference after he proposed to her at the Eiffel Tower.

Holmes, 27, gave birth to Suri in April. The baby has already had her own 22-page photo spread in Vanity Fair, further whipping up the media furore around the couple.

But some of the publicity has backfired. Cruise became the butt of jokes after an appearance on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' last year, when he manically jumped up and down on a sofa while expressing his love for Holmes.

Paramount Pictures ended their 14-year production deal with Cruise in August citing the actor's off-screen behaviour.

REUTERS PB PM1634