On my recent trip to
California to visit my daughter we went to Napa Valley, California’s wine
country where we passed numerous vineyards and wineries. What we were heading
for was a winery that was in a fantastic authentic Tuscan castle.
The owner, Dario Sattui
calls it “The Castle of Love.” It was a culmination of his life’s dream to
build an authentic Tuscan castle where he could make outstanding Italian-style
wines. It took him thirty years to build. To make it authentic in every
respect, he used only old, hand-made materials and had it built employing the
same methods and materials that would have been used 700-800 years ago. He said
you can’t fake something like this. You either do it right or people will know
it’s not authentic.
 |
| Mary and I are getting ready to go in. |
Experts consider the
Castello an architectural masterpiece. It’s a magical place which will
transport those who visit to medieval Italy. With two thirds underground, the
Castello contains eight levels – four of which are underground. (I think he was
counting the towers.) – 107 rooms; each one of which is beautiful and
distinctive from the others. It totals 121,000 square feet or three acres of
rooms. We visited most but not all of them including a room with a video
playing with Dario Sattui talking about how he had his castle built.
He brought more than two
hundred containers from Europe filled with old materials and furnishing, used
more than 8000 tons of local stone which they hand-chiseled, and brought nearly
1 million antique hand-made bricks from Europe.
The Castello contains all
the elements a medieval castle would have possessed – a moat, drawbridge, five
towers, high defensive ramparts, courtyards and loggias, a deep well, a
functioning church, stables, an outdoor oven, an apartment for the Nobles, a
Great Hall, and even a prison and torture chamber, and some of the most
beautiful vaulted wine cellars in the world.
The castle is surrounded
by 171 acres, 30 of which are grapes situated on one of the most beautiful
properties in the United States. Looking out from one of the higher windows, it
was lovely. I liked seeing goats and chickens wandering over some of the
grounds.
Mary and I didn’t take
the guided tour which was more expensive, but paid the entrance fee and
wandered about on our own. The Catholic church was a beautiful, and we each lit
a candle for my son John, and sat down on chairs in front of the church to say
a little prayer.
Then we wandered on to
look at the huge Great Hall which had tables and chairs enough to fit many, people.
I didn’t take time to count all the chairs, but there had to have been two
dozen or more. In the inside court yards there were planters full of lovely
flowers.
We eventually ended up in
the basement area where there was a gift shop, lots of wine bottles for sale,
and free wine tasting, which we did. Mary bought some wine.
From there we wandered on
to the room holding large wine caskets, and eventually to the prison area, too.
Some more facts from the
brochure:
*Two
thousand pounds of hand-hewn doors from Italy
*All
ironwork including lamps, gates and door hardware was hand-forged by Italian
artisans.
*All
doors and windows were made by Italian artisans and feature leaded glass windows.
 |
| I'm standing on the drawbridge. |
I have visited castles in
England, Wales and Scotland and was impressed by them, but I think this castle
was even more impressive, and we didn’t even have time to visit all the 107
rooms. Fortunately, there were modern day toilets.
 |
| A little church on the way in. |
Have you ever visited a
castle or some other building that was very impressive?
