Curvy roads lead us through the vineyards of Piedmont until we finally arrive at the iron gate of the Villa Sparina Resort and park our Model S in the beautiful courtyard. The hotel is housed in an old winery whose cellar size can hardly be guessed from the outside. The villa is beautifully restored and equipped with lovely details. We are warmly welcomed by Sara at the reception. We can confidently deposit our car key with her. The staff is used to dealing with a Tesla and brings our Model S directly into the hotel-owned garage to the Destination Charger. Brilliant! This gives us more time to explore our huge room and the spacious property 🙂
Welcome to the home of …
Alfonso Spinelli is the resorts marketing-director and an incredibly charming and witty host. He leads us through the whole house and invites us to a Prosecco on the sunny terrace. When he opens the lid of a large iron chest to take out a cushion for us, it creaks so loudly that he spontaneously says „This is the grave of Count Dracula – you can sleep here next time, if you are looking for more adventure”. We prefer our room in the beautiful villa!
The resort is – as the name implies – not only a hotel. Besides the 33 rooms of the L‘ Ostelliere it also offers an own restaurant. In “La Gallina” (which in Italian means chicken) you dine, with an unbelievable view, in a former hen-house. That is the reason why you find funny chicken-decors everywhere, giving the place a special charming touch. Where you now find the reception, there used to be the cow-shed – no question why the owners renounced the matching decoration! 🙂
Unexpected size
The wine-cellar under the hotel and restaurant extends far below the large garden. It consists of an old and a new part, the latter being optically very well adapted. This cellar is unbelievably large, made up very nicely and lit in a romantic way. Therefore the cellar not only invites to taste wine, but is also very suitable for parties, weddings and other celebrations. We can well imagine how people happily laugh and dance down here. But of course the primary purpose of the cellar is to store the wines that are produced directly on site. By the way, Villa Sparina uses bottles with a very special shape for their wines. So not only the content, but also the packing is very tasteful. We were able to convince ourselves of that during a wine tasting at the restaurant.
A very special ice-cream treat
In addition to all the other delicacies of this evening, our absolute highlight, however, was the dessert. There was homemade soft ice cream, which was piled up in a huge bowl, portioned and served at our table. It came with 10 different toppings, and everything tasted so fresh and fine that we would have loved to keep the complete large bowl on our table. A unique feast !! Unbelievably good! Did we mention that Mr T would do almost anything for ice cream? Let’s change the subject quickly, otherwise Mr. T will be mouth-watering while writing.
No matter what weather
In fine weather you can either sit in the large garden of the villa in one of the beautiful swings, on the terrace in front of the restaurant with a magnificent view of the vineyards, or directly in front of the wine cellar, where various art objects are waiting. Should there be a wedding or anniversary: this is the place !!
Our room would also be very cosy, on a rainy day. Spacious, tastefully decorated, and with earthy colors exactly to our taste. The view through the ivy-entwined windows adds even a touch of romance. A walk-in closet and a large sofa are also part of the equipment.
Before we leave, Mr T wants to buy a good bottle of wine for Mrs T, as her birthday approaches. When Alfonso hears this, he not only gives him another smile, but also a free bottle of their great wines for Mrs. T. “You are always welcome at Villa Sparina, whether in the house or in the garden or with Count Dracula”, he says: -).
Many thanks,
Yours
Mr & Mrs T
1. Welcome to Villa Sparina
2. Take a seat at the reception
3. Enjoy the vineyards from the garden …
4. … which also offers space …
5. … for having a lovely breakfast …
6. Remember the ivy-entwined windows we wrote about?
7. Our room, so big that we could not capture it on one picture.
8. Restaurant La Gallina
