We have always heard of the beauty of Napa Valley, so we thought since we were close by, we would take a little trip up there to visit. We found an amazing winery to visit complete with a HUGE castle boasting 107 rooms and signed up quickly for a tour. It was unbelievable! You can read the history of it here- http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/History- Its worth the read- fascinating stuff.
The details and history placed in this castle are amazing!
Dario Sattui started building this castle in 1995 and finished in 2007- there are 4 levels below ground and 4 levels above ground. The castle is booked 300 days out of the year for special events/weddings/etc. The tour guide also said the whole castle is now paid off- the guy estimated it was in the hundreds of millions to build.
"Castello di Amorosa appears to be an authentic castle for one reason only. It is an authentic castle, though fancified. We either used construction methods and materials that would have been used 1,000 years ago, or we used very old hand-made materials that had survived up to modern times. A fireplace predating Christopher Columbus adorns the Great Hall, and Iron Maiden from the late Renaissance dominates the torture chamber. A wrought iron dragon from the times of Napoleon hovers over the massive main door. More than 8,000 tons of stone were chiseled, not sawed, by hand to be absolutely authentic. Nearly 200 containers of old, hand made materials were shipped from Europe to lend authenticity."
 |
| the Great Hall- paintings were done by Italian artists and that mantle dates back before Christopher Columbus! |
The caverns below the castle were so spooky and cold and damp.
All the red wine is stored there in large barrels.
That large bottle of wine to the left costs $5000 a bottle!
The tour guide said they are currently sold out of that size bottle!
(the glass for the bottle costs $300 alone) CRAZY!
So many of the relics are originals
We thoroughly enjoyed this day! We would go back and stay in this area in a heartbeat!
No comments:
Post a Comment