Romantic Italian Castle at the Foot of the Alps, CIR code 00126600003

Ninth-century castle exclusively for guests and beautifully restored, with central heating and modern amenities. Rebuilt during the early twentieth century by General Cavaliere Fernando Pecco and the Broglio family, it was bought in 1929 by the family of the famous composer and musician Rosario Scalero as a home and school where he taught many of the greatest composers and musicians in the next generation, including Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, Nino Rota, and Gian Carlo Menotti. Just to the left of the beautiful entrance hall, which is decorated with a famous wraparound fresco of the castle's history, are the master's study and his pupils' conservatory, which, like the library on the floor above and the central living-room right next to it, are covered in rich, dark, original paneling, replicas of medieval windows and shutters, and geometric and vegetal frescoes on every ceiling and many of the walls. From the porch of the library and from the patio on which the master's study opens, you are just above the castle's carefully manicured gardens, which are sprinkled with semi-tropical palm and fruit trees, yet offer breathtaking views of Alpine mountains capped with snow in winter, and which lead to excellent hiking trails along the Via Francigena. As sheep bells softly ring in the distance, you can walk the same trails as pilgrims passing from Canterbury to Rome amid olive groves, vineyards, and buildings that often date back to the route's heyday in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Or you can enjoy conversation, board games, your favorite beverage, and/or a snack in a quiet niche of the gardens as you look upon the beautiful and friendly confines of Montestrutto village at the foot of the castle's hill, admire the intrepid scalers at the wall-climbing park on one of the hill's lower sides, or look across Dora Baltea River at the waterfalls on the opposite mountainside. With easy access to the best of Alpine skiing, the largest and most popular of Italy's many national parks, and countless ancient ruins, medieval castles, and churches of all periods, the fantasy is yours for the making in this medieval castle updated with wifi and the other necessities of modern life.