Villa Betteloni is a magnificent Venetian villa located in Castelrotto, in the municipality of San Pietro in Cariano in the province of Verona. It was no coincidence that our journey in Valpolicella started from here and that this residence, in which we were guests of Vittorio Betteloni for our entire stay in the area, was our starting point to discover a unique and very beautiful territory.
In an ancient Venetian villa in the heart of Valpolicella
Vittorio was at the same time Cicero and Virgilio for us and made us available not only one of the suites of the Villa finely furnished and dedicated to guests, but also his contacts and friendships, making us open doors that would hardly have opened wide in the convulsive and intense time of the harvest.
And we can’t even say that we have chosen Villa Betteloni as our home for our #ViaggidiVini in the heart of classic Valpolicella, an area rich in art, home to great wines and an ideal destination for food and wine lovers like us, because the choice is it was, so to speak, mutual. But, like every story, ours too had a beginning that led us to think that this, one of the oldest Veronese country residences, would have been the one that would have welcomed us together with our Otto.
Because here, as Mario Soldati also recalls in one of his travels up and down Italy to tell about the vineyards, wines and winemakers, the writers Cesare, Vittorio and Gianfranco Betteloni lived. And to the poet, novelist and translator Vittorio we owe an Ode to wine, written in 1876, in which after having sung the praises of the wine, he describes its harvest, winemaking and conservation.
Even today in the land around the villa, since the past an ideal refuge in the countryside for people of culture and agricultural estate, 30,000 square meters of organic certified Valpolicella DOCG Classico vineyards are cultivated and the grapes are harvested that become the wine of the Villa dei Poeti on the whose labels relive the poems of Gianfranco Betteloni, nephew of Cesare, friend of Aleardo Aleardi and son of Vittorio, friend of Carducci.
And the name Vittorio continues to echo among the frescoed walls of the noble residence in the hall with high ceilings and frescoed walls where intellectuals, artists and poets dined. Who knows how many secrets these walls could tell if only they could talk. Whoever welcomed us is called Vittorio and descends from that Betteloni family who bought the villa in 1665, the oldest part of which dates back to the second half of the 1300s.
Arriving here, it is not difficult to imagine walking together with the characters who frequented it in the past, getting lost among the hedges of the Italian garden in the beautiful 20,000 square meter park admiring the suggestive view of Valpolicella from the belvedere terrace, or sharing opinions and exchanging opinions among the 5,000 volumes of the Library of the Villa surrounded by its Brolo.
The reception is located on the ground floor of the large residence where Vittorio and his son Mario welcome guests with a glass of their own wine, of course. On the first floor of the main house is the Zia Otta Suite, the only one off-limits to four-legged friends due to the presence of wooden floors. The recently restored rooms and furnished with antiques are accessed via a spectacular staircase. And the view from the terrace is also very scenic, allowing your gaze to sweep over the vineyards of Valpolicella.
The other suites are gathered in the building in front of the manor house, what was once the barchessa intended to contain work environments linked to the management of the agricultural property. Divided into two floors the Loggia Suite which can accommodate up to 8 people, while ours was the Autista Suite on two levels.
And where you can breathe the charm of a timeless history but with the comforts of contemporary luxury. On the ground floor there is a living room with an equipped kitchenette which leads to the furnished porch for outdoor dining, while on the upper floor there is a large and bright bedroom with a bathroom with a nice large shower.
The plus? The very comfortable Simmons Renergie Beautyrest mattresses on which dreams are truly golden. We also really liked the choice of tiles decorated with the unmistakable Fornasetti designs in a bathroom characterized by a pleasant contrast between intense colors such as black and vermilion red.
Around the large park that during our stay began to wear the shades of autumn, dressing the refined villa surrounded by greenery with an even more suggestive atmosphere, dotted with modern iron sculptures, works by the artist Igino Legnaghi.
In closing, we would like to thank Vittorio once again for letting us discover goodies such as the Vigneto dei Salumi in Arbizzano (we tell the tasting in #Buongusto) and for having interceded for us in order to be able to meet in full harvest winemakers such as Francesco di Le Terre di Gnirega, Cristina and Marcello di Novaia and the legendary Zeno Zignoli from Cantina Monte dei Ragni: find our posts in #ViaggidiVini and #Incontri sections.
Villa Betteloni
Via Betteloni 7 – San Pietro in Cariano (Vr)
Info: +39 349 3747996
www.villabetteloni.it – info@betteloni.it
