Castello di Amorosa is a winery located near

Calistoga, California Calistoga (Wappo: ''Nilektsonoma'') is a city in Napa County, in the Wine Country of California. Located in the North Bay region of the Bay Area, the city had a population of 5,228 as of the 2020 census. Calistoga was founded in 1868 when th ...

. The winery opened to the public in April 2007, as the project of a fourth-generation vintner, Dario Sattui, who also owns and operates the V. Sattui Winery named after his great-grandfather, Vittorio Sattui, who originally established a winery in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1885 after emigrating from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The winery property was once part of an estate owned by

Edward Turner Bale Edward Turner Bale (1810 – October 9, 1849), later known by his Spanish language, Spanish name Don Eduardo A. Bale, was a British-born Californian physician, entrepreneur, and ranchero. He is known for having built the Bale Grist Mill State Histor ...

. In 1993, Sattui purchased for $3.1 million, then spent another $40 million to construct the castle, outbuildings, and the winery inside the castle; construction work began in 1995. During the

Glass Fire The Glass Fire was a wildfire in Northern California, that started on September 27, 2020, at 3:48 AM ( PDT) from an undetermined cause and was active for 23 days. It was part of the 2020 California Wildfires and the 2020 Western United States wi ...

that began on September 27, 2020, the farmhouse suffered major damage, the entire 2020 vintage of the wine Fantasia was lost, but the castle was left unharmed.

Inspiration

After graduating with an MBA from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1969, Dario Sattui spent two years traveling in Europe, during which time he developed an interest in medieval architecture. He took photos and made sketches of various buildings he would visit including medieval castles, monasteries, palaces, farmhouses and wineries.

Castle

The castle interiors, which include 107 rooms on 8 levels above and below ground, were approximately when opened in 2007; it has since been expanded to 141,000 square feet. Key details and building techniques are architecturally faithful to the 12th and 13th century time period. Among many other features, it includes a moat; a drawbridge, defensive towers, an interior courtyard, a torture chamber, a chapel/church, a knights' chamber, and a 72 by

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great ...

with a -high

coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also c ...

ed ceiling. The

torture chamber A torture chamber is a room where torture is inflicted.

has an

iron maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

said to be from the late

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

, which Sattui states he bought for $13,000 in

Pienza Pienza () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Siena, Tuscany, in the historical region of Val d'Orcia. Situated between the towns of Montepulciano and Montalcino, it is considered the "touchstone of Renaissance urbanism". In 1996, UNESCO d ...

; a replica

rack Rack or racks may refer to: Storage and installation * Amp rack, short for amplifier rack, a piece of furniture in which amplifiers are mounted * Bicycle rack, a frame for storing bicycles when not in use * Bustle rack, a type of storage bin ...

; and other torture devices. The great hall features

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

es painted by two Italian artists, who took about a year and a half to complete, and showcases a 500-year-old fireplace. The masonry, ironwork, and woodwork were fashioned by hand using

old world The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...

crafting techniques. Building materials included 8,000 tons of locally quarried stone, paving stones, terra cotta roofing tiles, and 850,000 bricks imported from Europe. Extending into the hillside adjacent to the castle is a labyrinth of caves some in length. Beneath the castle are a barrel cellar and tasting rooms where visitors can sample the wines, all sold only at the Castle or through the winery's

wine club A wine club is a developing extension of modern wine culture. Wine clubs are designed to provide customers with a series of wine bottles on a monthly or quarterly basis that they would otherwise have to find and purchase on their own. Wine clubs o ...

. Due to

Napa County Napa County () is a county north of San Pablo Bay located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 138,019. The county seat is the City of Napa. Napa County was one of the original co ...

restrictions, the castle and grounds cannot be rented for weddings or receptions, but are available to rent for corporate gatherings and fund raisers. In May 2012 the county ordered the winery to cease holding a weekly

Catholic Mass The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass, "the same Christ ...

in the

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

located on the grounds due to lack of use permits. File:Castello di Amorosa.jpg, The castle as seen from the driveway Image:Castello-di-Amorosa-drawbridge-2015.jpg, The drawbridge entrance Image:Castello-di-Amorosa-greathall.jpg, The great hall Image:Castello-di-Amorosa-knightshall.jpg, Knights' chambers Image:Castello-di-Amorosa-cellar.jpg, The wine cellar Image:Castello-di-Amorosa-moat-2015.jpg, Exterior walls Image:Castello-di-Amorosa-torture-chamber.jpg, Torture chamber

References

External links

* {{Authority control Castles in California Wineries in California