Photo: © Castello di Reschio
Castello di Reschio: A Thousand-Year Umbrian Hideaway for Design-Loving Country Seekers
Poised between Umbria and Tuscany, Castello di Reschio feels less like a hotel than a chapter of Italian history waiting for you to write your own. Once a merchant stronghold, then a working estate and later an aristocratic residence, this thousand-year-old castle has been quietly reimagined by the Bolza family as a 3,700-acre private world where architecture, landscape and design speak the same pared-back language. In its uneven towers, reworked stables and underground Bathhouse, Reschio sketches out a rural, refined, almost secret way of life that this article explores, room by room.
A thousand-year-old castle between Tuscany and Umbria, reborn as a country estate
Castello di Reschio stands on a hill in the Niccone Valley, right on the border between Umbria and Tuscany, in the municipality of Lisciano Niccone. Around it, a private estate of almost 3,700 acres unfolds in oak and chestnut woods, cypress-lined lanes, olive groves and riverbanks. It is an expansive slice of Italian countryside, wide enough for the eye to travel for miles without ever leaving the property.
The name Reschio, from Resculum, suggests that a fortification was already here in Late Antiquity. The current structure is thought to have been begun between the 9th and 11th centuries, and the first documented mention of the castle dates to 3 May 1202, when Uguccione di Ranieri ceded Reschio and its lands to the city of Perugia. Over the centuries, the castle’s story has mirrored the shifting politics of central Italy: it was invested in 1355 by Emperor Charles IV in favour of the Marchesi del Monte Santa Maria; in 1365 it passed to the Montemelini family of Perugia; then in 1601 the fief was sold to Angelo Cesi, Bishop of Todi, who gifted it to his nephew Venanzio Chiappino, as an inscription above the entrance still records.
Closer to our own time, the estate changed direction in 1932 when Marquis Ridolfo Bichi Ruspoli Forteguerri sold it to Angiolo Maria Cenciarini, who developed tobacco cultivation and processing here. The decisive shift came in 1994, with its acquisition by Count Benedikt Bolza. With his wife, artist Donna Nencia Corsini, he embarked on a long, careful renewal of the castle and its buildings, set in motion in the 1990s and pursued for some three decades. That patient, quietly executed transformation is what gives Reschio today the feel of a historic estate thoughtfully reimagined: rural, but with a refined, contemporary edge.
Photo: © Castello di Reschio
Photo: © Castello di Reschio
Photo: © Castello di Reschio
Photo: © Castello di Reschio
Photo: © Castello di Reschio
Photo: © Castello di Reschio
Photo: © Castello di Reschio
Photo: © Castello di Reschio
A 3,700-acre estate shaped by the Bolza family, where forests, farmhouses and design meet
Beyond the castle walls, the Reschio estate extends over more than 1,500 hectares between Tuscany and Umbria. Here, the architecture follows the contours of the land: wooded hills, olive-planted valleys, tracks flanked by rows of cypress. More than 50 farmhouses and country houses are scattered across the property. Many have been restored and transformed, in continuity with the work begun by the Bolza family in the 1990s. Together they form a mosaic of buildings, kitchen gardens and meadows that honours the site’s agricultural past while reinterpreting it.
At the heart of this metamorphosis is the in-house Benedikt Bolza architecture & design studio, which has been designing, building and managing projects across the estate for more than 30 years. This fully integrated set-up keeps a tight hold on every detail: the proportions of windows, the choice of materials, the lines of the ironwork, lighting and furniture. It is no coincidence that the overall atmosphere feels so consistent, whether you are in the castle, the former stables or the converted farmhouses: the same language of stone, wood and metal, adapted to each building.
That long-term coherence, imagined over decades, puts Reschio in conversation with other Italian addresses aimed at aesthetes, while asserting its own rural character. Where a baroque townhouse like Q92 Noto Hotel spins an urban story facing a cathedral, Reschio unfolds an open-air narrative of woods, fields and former tobacco farms. The sheer scale of the estate, the obsessive attention to architectural detail and the slow pace of its restoration together offer travellers an unusually deep immersion in a reimagined, thoroughly grounded kind of Italian country life.
Thirty-six bespoke rooms and suites, conceived as one-off pieces
The hotel itself is laid out around the castle’s central courtyard, with just 36 rooms and suites. Their distribution deliberately follows the irregularities of the original structure: tall towers, low-beamed rooms, curved passageways and zigzagging enfilades. Far from standard hotel floorplans, each room becomes a design exercise in turning the quirks of an ancient building into a distinctive advantage.
Interiors and furnishings are largely designed by Benedikt Bolza himself, then crafted in his on-site workshop under the BB for Reschio label. This artisanal approach ensures a strong visual identity, from the quietly drawn bed frames to the lighting and door handles. Some rooms feature freestanding bathtubs, fireplaces in the suites and discreetly integrated minibars: contemporary comforts woven into the medieval fabric rather than imposed on it.
As already suggested, the room and suite categories reflect the variety of volumes available: the 180 m² Tower Suite unfolding through the castle’s upper levels; the approximately 85 m² Grand Suite; the 55 m² Suite San Michele; the 60 m² Suite Castello; the 50 m² Grand Room and the 30 m² Room. One remarkable suite even incorporates an old olive press as a sculptural centrepiece, a constant reminder of the estate’s agricultural roots. The atmosphere, described as “Contemporary Classic & Quiet” by the MICHELIN Guide, speaks of understated classicism, with the hand of the architect-owner evident throughout. For design-minded couples or groups of friends booking several categories together, the castle reads almost like a walk-through collection of singular volumes.
Photo: © Castello di Reschio
From the underground Bathhouse to open-air pursuits, an elegant take on rural living
Beneath the castle, former wine cellars have been transformed into the Bathhouse, an underground spa that distils the spirit of Reschio: respect for the historic fabric, thoughtful use of light and a discreet focus on comfort. These vaulted spaces house an indoor pool, a bath inspired by Roman thermae, a hammam, a Swedish-style sauna and treatment rooms. Carefully channelled natural light softens the stone and gives the whole place a gentle luminosity.
Outside, a pool stretches into the landscape, accompanied by the Il Torrino pool bar. Other social spaces round out the scene: Palm Court, the Library, Bar Centrale, each with its own character yet clearly part of the same house style. Facilities also include a full spa, Turkish baths, sauna, beauty treatment rooms, bicycles for guests’ use, an outdoor terrace, bar and 24-hour reception.
The estate is far from static. Reschio offers horse riding, with breeding and training of Andalusian horses and lessons at all levels in the adjacent stables, as well as hiking, cycling, wild swimming, tennis, boating, foraging, truffle-hunting, cookery classes and yoga sessions. This broad range of activities anchors each stay in the surrounding landscape. For travellers who care as much about a sense of place as about comfort – just as those drawn to Verdura Resort on the Sicilian coast come for its relationship with the sea – Reschio offers a landlocked, woodland-focused version of Italian life, centred on the Niccone Valley.
Estate-to-table dining, from gardens to plate, from castle to former stables
Food is central to Castello di Reschio’s identity. The restaurants and bars draw heavily on foraging across the estate, the kitchen gardens and neighbouring farms. The approach is firmly local and seasonal: what appears on the menu shifts with the harvest from the vegetable plots, the estate vineyards and the surrounding countryside. The result is a constantly evolving bill of fare, more attuned to the seasons than to fixed signature dishes.
Two main spots structure the culinary offering. Ristorante al Castello, within the castle walls, focuses on Umbrian classics prepared with ingredients from Reschio’s gardens and vineyards. A short walk away, Ristorante Alle Scuderie occupies the former stables, in a setting that opens more onto the countryside. Both serve changing menus of regional specialities, built around farm-sourced produce.
Around them, Palm Court, the Library, Bar Centrale and the Il Torrino pool bar complete the food and drink map. Each offers a different way of engaging with the estate’s cooking: tasting an Umbrian dish within the ancient stone of the castle; sharing something more relaxed at Alle Scuderie after a hike; ordering a drink by the pool. Taken together, they form a coherent experience in which food becomes the common thread, much as it does at certain coastal Italian addresses like Le Calette in Cefalù, though here the focus is firmly on the hillside terroir of Umbria. For discerning diners who care about short supply chains and seasonality, Reschio is as much a gastronomic destination as a place to stay.
A discreet retreat for couples, families and groups of friends seeking Italian countryside
With only 36 rooms arranged around the castle courtyard and a vast 3,700-acre estate, Castello di Reschio cultivates a rare sense of discretion. The hotel’s scale keeps things quiet – its atmosphere is, after all, described as “Contemporary Classic & Quiet” – while the size of the grounds allows for any number of different ways to stay. Couples drawn to architecture and landscape, multigenerational families, groups of well-travelled friends: all can make the estate their own in different ways.
The property is explicitly geared to families. Cots are provided free of charge, while extra beds can be added to suites, with clearly stated fees. A babysitting service is available on request with 48 hours’ notice, allowing parents to enjoy a late dinner or a spa treatment with peace of mind. The MICHELIN Guide also notes a nightly supplement per additional guest, and a deposit requirement above a certain booking amount, signalling a carefully managed approach to preserving the intimacy of the place.
For groups of friends or extended families, the many restored farmhouses and country houses on the estate make it possible to plan more independent stays while still enjoying the hotel’s infrastructure: restaurants, Bathhouse, pool and activities. Cortona and Lake Trasimeno, around twenty minutes away, add options for cultural or lakeside excursions. Access is straightforward: a private transfer from Perugia airport takes about 45 minutes – close enough for a long weekend, yet far enough for the Niccone Valley to retain its sense of unspoilt countryside.
Explore the surroundings
Booking Castello di Reschio: experiencing Italian rural life in a thousand-year-old setting
Castello di Reschio stands out with an overall score of 19.9 out of 20 from the MICHELIN Guide, which underlines the quality of its accommodation, services and atmosphere. It is also listed as a 5-star hotel, with a notably high aggregate rating on review platforms. These distinctions confirm what visitors sense on arrival: a place with a strong identity, where a thousand years of history meet design conceived entirely on site, serious estate-driven cooking and a wide choice of outdoor pursuits.
For travellers who seek characterful, small-scale addresses capable of welcoming couples in search of privacy, demanding families or aesthetically minded groups of friends, Reschio offers a deeply coherent vision of Italian rural living: historic, creative and resolutely discreet. The Niccone Valley, the oak and chestnut woods, the olive groves and the restored farmhouses provide the daily backdrop, while the underground Bathhouse, the Al Castello and Alle Scuderie restaurants, the Andalusian horses and the truffle-hunting expeditions set the rhythm of each day.
Booking your stay at Castello di Reschio
Castello di Reschio
Tabaccaia di Reschio
06060 Lisciano Niccone (PG) – Italy
Book at www.reschio.com
