My trip to Umbria started with a close friend and I talking about horse riding. Over a glass of wine discussing the levels and types of training for horses she mentioned her experience at Castello Reschio and described it as riding the most highly trained horses (short of sport horses) she had ever seen. Just the thought of such a property amazed me. Most stables you find are far from luxurious or even clean so to find an estate that embodies 5-star luxury while operating a stable within it seemed unreal. I immediately did my homework on the property and found that it was in fact a massive family-owned estate that consisted of several farmhouses refurbed into rustic luxury villas, within lush forest grounds surrounding an ancient castle, which is the hotel and main area of the property. Within this impressive estate you find the stables, restaurants and a bathhouse situated in the old wine cellar of the castle and a bit further out even a private lake and cabin all belonging to Reschio. This place is so impressive it is hard to believe it has not already been taken over by some major hotel brand, nevertheless refreshing. It is what makes Castello Reschio unique. It is one of the most bespoke destinations I have been to which is largely due to them having their own way of doing things, which at the time of booking can make one nervous, but eventually upon arrival they deliver. Within the borders of what was possible they delivered some of the best service we have experienced. The short comings were there but strongly due to logistical factors.
The best possible experience of the Umbrian country at Reschio is achieved within the farmhouses, so I highly recommend booking one of those. Besides if you are traveling with children, you don’t really have a choice because children under 12yo aren’t allowed at the Castello. However, the houses as beautiful as they are, are not built the same and come in different shapes and sizes, try to ask as many questions as you can about the condition of the house and you can perhaps request a video. The houses are rather rustic, but some are newer and some are older making it a gamble. We stayed at Ceroschene which is one of their smaller houses, but it was in perfect condition, and it truly was a country style house, made up of cobblestone and wood ceiling beams, decorated with traditional carpets and field flowers, and of course my favorite spot was the fireplace with two armchairs right in front of it. It was something out of a novel. All the houses have swimming pools and fair size gardens, but once again I liked ours the most because we had arguably the flattest backyard making it perfect for children to run around as well as offering the most unobstructed views, with vast fields – quite picturesque. But the more important aspect of renting the Reschio houses is what is included within the house, which is not much.
This is the part where short comings come in but ONLY if you are not prepared. The price of the house includes a housekeeper for 8 hours, which covers the morning and turn up service and a chef for breakfast – the breakfast is incredible. The table is set with everything and anything one could wish for, and your chef is right there in case you want something specific like eggs benedict or other. The breakfast service comes with a waitress who will set the tables, serve the table and clean it, leaving it exactly as you found it at check in, and this is wonderful but only available for breakfast. If you want to eat inside your home, during busy times it is best to prebook the chef for all meals, as the estate only has one other restaurant for lunch. However, given the vast number of experiences such as the lake cabin or a picnic you might be ok for lunchtime depending on the itinerary you choose, however for dinner, there truly is only one option if you are with children as the second restaurant at the Castello, has age limitations for young guests. My recommendation is to either have the chef hired at your beck n call or at least mention to the hotel at the time of booking that you may need this because as you can imagine in this type of set up most chefs are probably fully booked, especially during high season. It is an important point to make that the houses DO NOT offer room service, so if you don’t have a chef, you will not have the possibility to simply order something delivered to your room, but I am sure that if you request someone to come and cook last minute they will most likely accommodate you. But to be safe trust me if you’re not pinching pennies and if you are going to this hotel, you are not – book the chef throughout the stay. Housekeeping is not necessary to book for over the included hours, unless turn down service is important to you, which to me it is, so we booked an additional housekeeper for the evenings, but for meal services the chef will always come with a waitress.
One of the most unique experiences at Reschio is the bath house, but my recommendation is to book the Grand Fireplace room experience at the same time or just after the roman baths. When you book the bathhouse the entire room is completely at your disposal, it is an incredible completely bespoke spa session that lasts 4 hours, you and your therapist discuss your needs, likes and dislikes and proceed to a footbath and scrub, after which you move over onto the massage bed where you can enjoy a 90 min massage, facial or both and more. This is followed by a clay bath, filled with chamomile and other herbs, depending on your preferences, the experience ends with you enjoying tea and local treats in front of the massive fireplace – trust me when I say this 4-hour experience is much more enjoyable after at least an hour in the Roman baths which is just as special. My suggestion is booking the baths for an hour or even more prior to the bathhouse.
To give a full outlook on the experiences Castello Reschio offers, I tried every single one that was offered during our stay and can without a doubt tell you which are worth it and which are nice, but you can go without. We tried pottery, basket weaving, embroidery, falconry, horse riding – both lessons and hacks, kite making, pizza making, truffle hunting and pasta cooking and of course the lake cabin.
The absolute MUST DO’s are the lake cabin, falconry, horse riding hack, pasta cooking and the bathhouse.
The lake cabin should be a mandatory part of the Reschio stay, same as the bathhouses. A beautiful rustic cabin by a private man-made lake, where you can enjoy swimming if the weather permits, rowing, fishing and of course you are served a barbeque lunch cooked on site. We also enjoyed an embroidery class at the cabin, which was nice and enjoyable for my daughter, but we could have easily gone without it. The cabin itself is rustic but well maintained with Reschio finishes, resembling an explorer’s cabin from the 1910’s it is a very cool experience that I highly recommend.
Horse riding – hacking is a beautiful short walk on a highly trained horse through the estate and fields of Reschio and is a very relaxing experience. They do have regulations on the level of riding but if you notify that you are a beginner they should be able to take you on a rope – it is truly sublime. If you are an experienced equestrian you can go on a longer hack and cover larger chunks of the estate.
Falconry was a very exciting one, because you learn and interact with 3 different predator birds: falcons, vultures and eagles. My children both loved the experience and unlike many other places took a long time to interact with each bird, holding it and learning about their habitat and role in the ecosystem.
The pasta making class is the most fun one. Especially if you are living in a house, it is done in your kitchen, and you are served the fruits of your labor for dinner. If you are not staying at one of the houses your lesson will take place at the cooking school within estate grounds. While incredibly fun, it is an effort. You start off, by preparing the dough for your pasta under the chefs’ supervision and then follow the recipes for the fillings or sauce. I highly recommend this for both families and couples. Making pasta while enjoying a nice bottle of red is what Italy is about, is it not?
Speaking of a bottle of red, some of the shortcomings at Reschio, aside from the ones I have already mentioned, is the wine list. Whether this is due to the estate not belonging to any large chains or not, I don’t know, but the wine list is extremely limited – when we did find a wine we loved or knew, it was scarce which was upsetting because you definitely want a good bottle of wine to enjoy with your pasta. A little tip however, which we were NOT aware of otherwise we would have used it, you can bring your own wine if you pay a cork fee – so pro tip! You can box up at a vinoteca on your way to the estate whether you are coming from Florence or Rome or elsewhere and enjoy your favorite bottles trouble free. But since we are on the topic of the negatives, I would add that the houses are extremely far from the main hotel, making some of them a 20minute drive from each other. It happened to us when going to see a friend who was renting a house on the other end of the estate from us – the drive took 28minutes. This distance did not in any way affect our holiday in any negative capacity, but in case you are planning walks from your house to the estate for dinner – forget it. This is also the reason you are not offered room service at the houses, which as I mentioned is a logistical issue rather than service.
Castello Reschio offers the most bespoke service I have ever encountered. It is different, you don’t get the usual expectations of a 5-star hotel, resort or estate, but it is a 5-star service. The team is friendly, helpful, and highly trained. I can easily say that we wanted for nothing and had one of the best holidays of our life. Thank you Reschio team, my entire family and I cannot wait to go back again and again and again.
