Travel Destination Rome

Perhaps you’re longing for a trip to Italy, but this year’s vacation budget doesn’t quite allow for that sort of extravagance?  Here’s an alternate, easier-on-the-pocketbook idea for you:  plan a Napa vacation and visit the Castello di Amorosa winery’s authentic 12th century style, Tuscan stone castle.

This is no silly, little fake castle.  It’s the real deal, with 100+ rooms included in its 121,000 square feet that stretch across eight above-and-below-ground levels.  It was fashioned using medieval techniques and largely from salvaged European building materials.  Over 8,000 tons of locally quarried stone were chiseled – not sawed – by hand during the course of its construction.

The sumptuous furnishings include a late-Renaissance Iron Maiden in the castle’s torture chamber and a 500-year-old fireplace in its 72-by-30-foot Great Hall.  There’s a moat and drawbridge, ramparts and guard towers, a knight’s chamber, a candle room and a sweet, tiny chapel on the property – everything you’d see in a real-life Tuscan castle!  Check it out for yourself in the video tour below:

As you might expect, Castello di Amorosa winery specializes in Italian varietals, with both red and white offerings, as well as a selection of dessert wines.  You should plan to stock your home’s wine shelves on your visit, as the winery’s selections are not available in stores.