Calistoga, Napa Valley, Calif. (March 2024) —Dario Sattui’s authentically built Tuscan-style castle and winery in the Napa Valley of California was recently recognized as one of the top ten castles in the world by Tripadvisor, the world’s largest travel platform. Sattui, a medieval history enthusiast, fell in love with European medieval architecture during several trips to Italy after college. He then spent many years exploring and documenting its style before commencing a 15-year construction project of his labor of love, Castello di Amorosa, the Castle of Love.
“I built the Castle to honor my Italian heritage, to create a setting in which guests could make life-long memories and relationships and to make great Italian-style wine in a unique setting,” said Sattui. “It truly was my labor of love. I really put my heart and soul into it and, if the truth were to be known, I got a little carried away with this project and I am honored that we were recognized by TripAdvisor,” he adds.
What started out as a small Italian-style winery morphed into a 150,000 square foot Castle which opened to the public in 2007. In the 17 years since opening, Castello di Amorosa has grown in popularity, both in customer visitation and online. With 5,848 reviews on Tripadvisor and a 4.5 out of 5 rating, Castello is one of the top destinations in California’s wine country.
A master visionary, Sattui created Castello di Amorosa using materials such as antique, handmade bricks and roof tiles, hand-hewn timbers, hand-forged iron gates, lamps and hardware and medieval construction techniques and over 8,000 tons of hand-chiseled local stone to create this architectural gem. Sattui designed most of the winery himself; it is not a replica of a medieval castle but rather a uniquely conceived one-of-a-kind building. The 150,000 square-foot castle/winery consists of four floors above ground and five floors below ground. It encompasses five defensive towers with battlements, 1,000-pound hand-hewn doors from Italy, a Great Hall with a 22-foot coffered ceiling featuring hand-painted frescoes inspired by medieval Italian frescoes. The castle’s 12,000 square foot Grand Barrel Room features 40 Roman cross-vaults in its brick ceiling. All the ironwork was hand-forged by Italian artisans over open flames on site during the construction. Over 170 containers of handmade antique bricks, roof tiles and antique furniture were brought from Italy for the building. Additional authentic features include courtyards, a chapel, the drawbridge, a watch tower, a torture chamber and secret passageways.
The winery itself is a modern contrast to the Castello as a whole. It contains advanced crushing and fermentation facilities, five underground levels and 24,000 square feet of caves all for barrel aging. Winemakers Brooks Painter and Peter Velleno have a wide range of equipment available to them, ranging from custom-designed triple-jacketed cooling fermentation tanks to concrete/ceramic eggs.
The winery owns 164 acres of estate vineyards throughout Napa Valley, Mendocino, and Sonoma County, ranging from its home estate in the Diamond Mountain District to Coombsville, Rutherford, Russian River Valley and Anderson Valley.
Castello di Amorosa sells its entire production of wine exclusively at the winery and on its website.
Castello di Amorosa is open seven days a week for winery tours and wine tasting from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.by reservation, at http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/Visit-Us or by calling 707-967-6272.
- Tripadvisor’s coverage: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Articles-lUZpLjELdn6g-Most_beautiful_castles_in_the_world.html
- More about Castello di Amorosa: https://castellodiamorosa.com/
- More about Dario Sattui: https://castellodiamorosa.com/bio-dario-sattui/
About Tripadvisor
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