Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Italy
334
Castello Banfi
A Touch of Glass
Brunello, Tuscany, Italy
Castello Banfi appears on the horizon like a
pink hilltop castle straight out of a fairy tale.
A tall, slender Rapunzel-style tower over-
looks a huge estate that reaches as far as
the nearby Mediterranean. Within this
authentic medieval fortress lies a cozy
courtyard; outside lies a cluster of stone
cottages with narrow vine-covered streets,
a hamlet that clung to the castle walls in the
dark ages. The estate holds vines, olive
groves, wheat fields, plum orchards, and
woodlands; within those same forests live
wild boar, deer, pheasant, even truffles.
But unlike many European winery cas-
tles, this place is no fortress when it comes
to visitors. It has two restaurants, one of
which has a Michelin star. It has a gorgeous
wine store with spacious ceramic flooring,
handsome dark wood rafters, and attrac-
tive display shelves. The winery facilities
with their endless rows of barrels are
immaculate, as are the 14 guest rooms
located in the surrounding stone cottages.
The winery even has its own onsite cooper-
age, where the best oak planks from France
and Slavonia are custom made into barrels.
If this isn't quite enough, what surely
marks this winery out as a must-see in
southern Tuscany is its intriguing Glass
Museum, six rooms displaying glass from
the present day all the way back to the 15th
century
B
.
C
. Egyptian urns sit beside Babylo-
nian vases beside ancient Roman ampules
and goblets; present-day examples include
The grounds of Castello Banfi encompass a Michelin-star restaurant, accommodations in stone cot-
tages, and a Glass Museum.
