We spent a week at Il Mulino (June 24th - July 1st) in the middle of our Italian holiday this summer. We were two couples celebrating our anniversaries with our first trip to Italy. We started in Ischia for a few days, then a week at this fantastic Il Mulino villa, then finished in Venice. We loved everything about Italy, but the highlight of the trip was our unforgettable time at Il Mulino!
Beginning with our welcome to the villa, where we were warmly greeted by Hewelin, Cristiana and Michele, to the day we had to say goodbye to Il Mulino, the staff were so friendly and helpful. The staff and the awesome care they gave us was unexpected, and completely exceeded our expectations. Too many details to list them all, but I'll mention a few here:
- First and foremost, don't stay at Il Mulino without enjoying a meal cooked by Cristiana and learning some Italian cooking from her in a "class" she will give in the villa. Cristiana is delightful, funny and a very skilled chef. She made us dinner the first night we arrived and it set the tone for the entire week. It was outstanding. Later in the week we scheduled a cooking class with Cristiana that was one of the highlights of the whole trip. We learned to make handmade ravioli from scratch, with ricotta and spinach from her garden. We also made veal stuffed with sheep's cheese and prosciutto, topped with fresh sage. And a (very!) fresh salad from the garden and great wine from the owner's vineyard. The food was great but Cristiana was better - and she took care of us the entire stay.
-Hewelin was a gracious host and attended to us the entire week, helping to schedule things or giving us advice as needed. She seemed to genuinely want us to have a fantastic time and we certainly did with her assistance.
-Each day the villa was cleaned while we were away. In addition, the villa has what we called a "magic wine rack" that was stocked with excellent wine from the estate. Each day we would drink a bottle or two (OK, maybe three), and the next day new bottles would appear in the rack when we returned to Il Mulino! The wine is not “free”, but it is reasonably priced. We really want one of these "magic wine racks" in our homes back in Texas, but I don't think they work the same outside of Il Mulino. (But we are having some of the wine send to us back home to try!)
Out of space, so I'll close by saying that Il Mulino is one of those amazing, beautiful and special places in the world that should not be missed.