A Magnifient “View From A Hill!”

You are looking at the clock tower high above the Piedmont region of Italy, in the tiny town of Guarene…which boasts amazing views from this hotel that sits majestically above it all:

Welcome To Castello di Guarene!

This incredible palace was built in the eighteenth century, a fantastically ambitious project conceived by local nobleman Carlo Giacinto Roero.

And now, this is a spectacular hotel, especially when lit up at night! Here is how the Relais & Chateau property describes itself, with my photos taken inside:

“With heavy drapes, paintings, lavish period furniture, carefully restored parquet floors, this former summer residence for the Counts of Roero, built on the site of a medieval fortress, is a delight for the eyes.”

“Surrounded by gardens designed in the style of 18th century Italy, overlooking the city of Guarene, it offers splendid views over the Langhe hills, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”

Here’s the garden behind the hotel:

Here are a few more shots of the castle inside:

This is our hotel room – spectacular…oh, and if you go downstairs, there is this:

This long brick vaulted hallway runs underneath the hotel, and looks even cooler when you film your wife walking down it like this:

It leads to the spa and indoor pool carved into the rock – which provides what the hotel calls “a peaceful retreat.”

The view of the Piedmont region was stunning, with the truffle town of Alba just below as well – here’s a look from our hilltop:

You can spend all day just gazing into the valley below and across to the other villages that dot the hillsides…check it out:

Directly across the valley on the far hillside, less than a 15 minute drive away, was the iconic wine town of Barbaresco…so of course we drove there!

As described on their website:

“The village of Barbaresco is placed in a dominant position on the right bank of the Tanaro, characterized by the typical medieval age urban layout. Its name derives from the Latin word “barbarica silver” which means “forest of barbarians Romans used this terms to define the dense forest that covered this land.”

We walked through the town, which was virtually deserted by late afternoon, and visited the main attractions;

The town’s medieval tower is the largest and most solid in the entire Piedmont region of Italy!

We could have climbed up the clock tower, but since our castle view was higher, we chose instead to grab a table, some wine and some appetizers:

Oh, and from our seat, we could see our hotel across the valley towering over the countryside…

We had a short one night stay. It was 315 miles from Cortona to Guarene Italy, and this break in driving ended this way – with a gorgeous nighttime shot of the valley from the hotel:

Gorgeous! 

Then it was time to eat, so we headed into their Limonaia restaurant for a feast with this incredible view!

As we were in the Alba Truffle region, we had white truffle covered Ravioli, as well as a Veal Tartare with shave Truffle as well:

Add a main course of Lamb served two ways and a dessert and it was a spectacular night – worth a visit for sure!

Alex had a special dessert treat, which you can see as it is finished at the table:

And the view….the view…

After our night at the Castello it was another 330 miles to Burgundy – and that drive was a wild adventure!

This is the tunnel through the Italian Alps…click here to find out what made our attempt to drive through Europe’s second longest tunnel was such a disaster!

Before our tunnel misadventure, we had a magical stay near Cortona, which is located 90 minutes south of Florence, for a week and what a week it was, living in the “Under The Tuscan Sun” house!

Click here to see just how unique an experience that was!

Speaking of movie locations, I shared our adventure last year in Sicily, when we stayed in the hotel used to film season two of “The White Lotus!”

Click here to see inside the gorgeous San Domenico Palace in Taormina!

Sicily is filled with amazing sights to see, like the original locations used for “The Godfather!”

One of the locations was up a steep road, so we took a small motorized cart and what a ride!

Check it out:

There were so many other cool locations, including us sitting in the exact same spot as Al Pacino!

See our tour by clicking here:

This is the second in my “food with a view” series – the first took us to the top of Athens Greece for this view!

Yes, that is all of Athens stretched out before us – and a terrific dish of potatoes bravas! See our “food with a view” up close here:

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Categories: Art, Exotic Travel, Food, food blog, Italy, Memoirs, nature, Pop Culture, Real Estate, Restaurants, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir

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