Villa Feltrinelli review
May 31, 2007, 6:31 am
#1
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Villa Feltrinelli review
We spent the UK Bank Holiday at this property by Lake Garda. It was the first time either of us had ever been to this area and, to be honest, we would never have come if it wasn't for trying out Feltrinelli. In the end, though, we found the whole area very pleasant for a relaxing couple of days despite the poor weather which was affecting most of Western Europe that weekend.
Feltrinelli set a new personal high for me in terms of cost per night for a hotel room - Euro 1,300 ($1,750) + 5% service. There are cheaper rooms, to be fair - we had a 1,500 square foot villa on the ground floor of a three storey building in one corner of the property. There are 2 similar buildings on the other side of the villa - Bob's Boat House (a 2 storey villa directly on the lake) and a smaller block behind that. Think of a shoe-box plot with the villa in the centre and the outbuildings in three of the corners. It was only a 60 second walk from our villa to the main building.
The rooms in the main building are 'grander' in terms of painted frescos on the ceilings etc. They are also smaller, however - we had a look at the top suite and it was smaller than our villa despite being twice the price. We also had two private patios, whilst only the top suite in the main house has a private balcony - albeit one directly looking out over the lake. There are only 21 rooms in total and occupancy seems to be very high - we saw the weeks bookings on the house computer systems. That said, it is still hard to believe it makes money given that it is only open for part of the year, cost $20m to renovate and has a huge number of staff.
It's difficult to fault this property. Bob Burns (who sold up in February to a Russian oligarch who has never even visited the place, at least knowingly to the staff) cut no corners. Or, more accurately, you can fault it (no fresh fruit in rooms, no spa, no indoor pool, TV a little small) but it doesn't matter. What does matter is:
a) the amazing location. It is 10 minutes walk into Gargnano village, where you can wander around and also get ferries to the larger towns around the lake;
b) the ludicrous amount of time and money that went into the renovation, but also goes into the day-to-day landscaping and maintenance; and
c) the highly impressive staff, including the excellent kitchen. We ate 2 of our 3 evenings meals elsewhere and both were disappointing, although Gargnano has a Michelin-starred place we didn't try. We should have taken more meals at the villa. The chef is ex-El Bulli and it shows in the ludicrous number of amuse bouche.
This is simply a very adult place to come, although babies are welcome in the cottages (they are less tolerant of children). No silly hotel signs or logos in the rooms, no signing for anything, no loyalty scheme. Just a group of people going out of there way to make your stay as happy as possible. Free laundry and free mini-bars are sensible anywhere with high room rates, but you so rarely see it. Same with good quality toiletries (Aqua di Parma), silk-linked robes, an Asian-style pool service, fantastic in-room music system etc. If you want a computer they will give you a free laptop for the duration of the stay - full wireless in the grounds. The quality level is almost funny at times - rose petals sprinkled in your loo during turndown, Faber Castell pencils in the rooms, your check-in details presented in a Mont Blanc leather folder, Euro 50 pots of AdP bath crystals (which we used up in two days!). The pathways are made of sparkling white crushed marble, the pool from grey granite.
We flew on BA from London to Verona, where the hotel picked us up in a house Mercedes (Euro 200 one-way). Brescia is nearer if you want to fly Ryanair from the UK. Leaving, we had them drop us at the railway station an hour away where we took a train to Verona (2 trains per hour, 25 min journey) and saw the sights before taking the late flight back.
I think its fair to say that we both felt something very special about this place. Only the Mandarin Oriental in Chiang Mai has had a similar effect on me - a feeling that you totally enveloped in a different world. If you are planning a trip to Italy it is well worth a detour - the excellent and cheap Italian train network means it is easily reachable from Milan, Venice etc.
Feltrinelli set a new personal high for me in terms of cost per night for a hotel room - Euro 1,300 ($1,750) + 5% service. There are cheaper rooms, to be fair - we had a 1,500 square foot villa on the ground floor of a three storey building in one corner of the property. There are 2 similar buildings on the other side of the villa - Bob's Boat House (a 2 storey villa directly on the lake) and a smaller block behind that. Think of a shoe-box plot with the villa in the centre and the outbuildings in three of the corners. It was only a 60 second walk from our villa to the main building.
The rooms in the main building are 'grander' in terms of painted frescos on the ceilings etc. They are also smaller, however - we had a look at the top suite and it was smaller than our villa despite being twice the price. We also had two private patios, whilst only the top suite in the main house has a private balcony - albeit one directly looking out over the lake. There are only 21 rooms in total and occupancy seems to be very high - we saw the weeks bookings on the house computer systems. That said, it is still hard to believe it makes money given that it is only open for part of the year, cost $20m to renovate and has a huge number of staff.
It's difficult to fault this property. Bob Burns (who sold up in February to a Russian oligarch who has never even visited the place, at least knowingly to the staff) cut no corners. Or, more accurately, you can fault it (no fresh fruit in rooms, no spa, no indoor pool, TV a little small) but it doesn't matter. What does matter is:
a) the amazing location. It is 10 minutes walk into Gargnano village, where you can wander around and also get ferries to the larger towns around the lake;
b) the ludicrous amount of time and money that went into the renovation, but also goes into the day-to-day landscaping and maintenance; and
c) the highly impressive staff, including the excellent kitchen. We ate 2 of our 3 evenings meals elsewhere and both were disappointing, although Gargnano has a Michelin-starred place we didn't try. We should have taken more meals at the villa. The chef is ex-El Bulli and it shows in the ludicrous number of amuse bouche.
This is simply a very adult place to come, although babies are welcome in the cottages (they are less tolerant of children). No silly hotel signs or logos in the rooms, no signing for anything, no loyalty scheme. Just a group of people going out of there way to make your stay as happy as possible. Free laundry and free mini-bars are sensible anywhere with high room rates, but you so rarely see it. Same with good quality toiletries (Aqua di Parma), silk-linked robes, an Asian-style pool service, fantastic in-room music system etc. If you want a computer they will give you a free laptop for the duration of the stay - full wireless in the grounds. The quality level is almost funny at times - rose petals sprinkled in your loo during turndown, Faber Castell pencils in the rooms, your check-in details presented in a Mont Blanc leather folder, Euro 50 pots of AdP bath crystals (which we used up in two days!). The pathways are made of sparkling white crushed marble, the pool from grey granite.
We flew on BA from London to Verona, where the hotel picked us up in a house Mercedes (Euro 200 one-way). Brescia is nearer if you want to fly Ryanair from the UK. Leaving, we had them drop us at the railway station an hour away where we took a train to Verona (2 trains per hour, 25 min journey) and saw the sights before taking the late flight back.
I think its fair to say that we both felt something very special about this place. Only the Mandarin Oriental in Chiang Mai has had a similar effect on me - a feeling that you totally enveloped in a different world. If you are planning a trip to Italy it is well worth a detour - the excellent and cheap Italian train network means it is easily reachable from Milan, Venice etc.
Last edited by Raffles; May 31, 2007 at 6:38 am
May 31, 2007, 6:58 am
#2
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Fantastic report ^
so you had a Casa di Fiori 1BR suite? the pricing does seem odd. seems like only 2BR suite and Bob's Boathouse are larger.
rates run $940-$4300
http://www.villafeltrinelli.com/home...iew_right.html
http://www.villafeltrinelli.com/home/rates.html
so you had a Casa di Fiori 1BR suite? the pricing does seem odd. seems like only 2BR suite and Bob's Boathouse are larger.
rates run $940-$4300
http://www.villafeltrinelli.com/home...iew_right.html
http://www.villafeltrinelli.com/home/rates.html
Last edited by Kagehitokiri; May 31, 2007 at 7:21 am
Jun 1, 2007, 8:48 am
#3
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: CPT
Programs: BA BD SA
Posts: 4,467
Thanks for a very informative report, Raffles. ^
We read about it and drooled over it and drove past it 2 years ago. At those prices I reckon that's as close as we are ever going to get.
At least we had the experience of the area which was lovely...
We read about it and drooled over it and drove past it 2 years ago. At those prices I reckon that's as close as we are ever going to get.
At least we had the experience of the area which was lovely...
Jul 31, 2009, 7:02 am
#4
Join Date: Feb 2005
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,068
We spent the UK Bank Holiday at this property by Lake Garda. It was the first time either of us had ever been to this area and, to be honest, we would never have come if it wasn't for trying out Feltrinelli. In the end, though, we found the whole area very pleasant for a relaxing couple of days despite the poor weather which was affecting most of Western Europe that weekend.
Feltrinelli set a new personal high for me in terms of cost per night for a hotel room - Euro 1,300 ($1,750) + 5% service. There are cheaper rooms, to be fair - we had a 1,500 square foot villa on the ground floor of a three storey building in one corner of the property. There are 2 similar buildings on the other side of the villa - Bob's Boat House (a 2 storey villa directly on the lake) and a smaller block behind that. Think of a shoe-box plot with the villa in the centre and the outbuildings in three of the corners. It was only a 60 second walk from our villa to the main building.
The rooms in the main building are 'grander' in terms of painted frescos on the ceilings etc. They are also smaller, however - we had a look at the top suite and it was smaller than our villa despite being twice the price. We also had two private patios, whilst only the top suite in the main house has a private balcony - albeit one directly looking out over the lake. There are only 21 rooms in total and occupancy seems to be very high - we saw the weeks bookings on the house computer systems. That said, it is still hard to believe it makes money given that it is only open for part of the year, cost $20m to renovate and has a huge number of staff.
It's difficult to fault this property. Bob Burns (who sold up in February to a Russian oligarch who has never even visited the place, at least knowingly to the staff) cut no corners. Or, more accurately, you can fault it (no fresh fruit in rooms, no spa, no indoor pool, TV a little small) but it doesn't matter. What does matter is:
a) the amazing location. It is 10 minutes walk into Gargnano village, where you can wander around and also get ferries to the larger towns around the lake;
b) the ludicrous amount of time and money that went into the renovation, but also goes into the day-to-day landscaping and maintenance; and
c) the highly impressive staff, including the excellent kitchen. We ate 2 of our 3 evenings meals elsewhere and both were disappointing, although Gargnano has a Michelin-starred place we didn't try. We should have taken more meals at the villa. The chef is ex-El Bulli and it shows in the ludicrous number of amuse bouche.
This is simply a very adult place to come, although babies are welcome in the cottages (they are less tolerant of children). No silly hotel signs or logos in the rooms, no signing for anything, no loyalty scheme. Just a group of people going out of there way to make your stay as happy as possible. Free laundry and free mini-bars are sensible anywhere with high room rates, but you so rarely see it. Same with good quality toiletries (Aqua di Parma), silk-linked robes, an Asian-style pool service, fantastic in-room music system etc. If you want a computer they will give you a free laptop for the duration of the stay - full wireless in the grounds. The quality level is almost funny at times - rose petals sprinkled in your loo during turndown, Faber Castell pencils in the rooms, your check-in details presented in a Mont Blanc leather folder, Euro 50 pots of AdP bath crystals (which we used up in two days!). The pathways are made of sparkling white crushed marble, the pool from grey granite.
We flew on BA from London to Verona, where the hotel picked us up in a house Mercedes (Euro 200 one-way). Brescia is nearer if you want to fly Ryanair from the UK. Leaving, we had them drop us at the railway station an hour away where we took a train to Verona (2 trains per hour, 25 min journey) and saw the sights before taking the late flight back.
I think its fair to say that we both felt something very special about this place. Only the Mandarin Oriental in Chiang Mai has had a similar effect on me - a feeling that you totally enveloped in a different world. If you are planning a trip to Italy it is well worth a detour - the excellent and cheap Italian train network means it is easily reachable from Milan, Venice etc.
Feltrinelli set a new personal high for me in terms of cost per night for a hotel room - Euro 1,300 ($1,750) + 5% service. There are cheaper rooms, to be fair - we had a 1,500 square foot villa on the ground floor of a three storey building in one corner of the property. There are 2 similar buildings on the other side of the villa - Bob's Boat House (a 2 storey villa directly on the lake) and a smaller block behind that. Think of a shoe-box plot with the villa in the centre and the outbuildings in three of the corners. It was only a 60 second walk from our villa to the main building.
The rooms in the main building are 'grander' in terms of painted frescos on the ceilings etc. They are also smaller, however - we had a look at the top suite and it was smaller than our villa despite being twice the price. We also had two private patios, whilst only the top suite in the main house has a private balcony - albeit one directly looking out over the lake. There are only 21 rooms in total and occupancy seems to be very high - we saw the weeks bookings on the house computer systems. That said, it is still hard to believe it makes money given that it is only open for part of the year, cost $20m to renovate and has a huge number of staff.
It's difficult to fault this property. Bob Burns (who sold up in February to a Russian oligarch who has never even visited the place, at least knowingly to the staff) cut no corners. Or, more accurately, you can fault it (no fresh fruit in rooms, no spa, no indoor pool, TV a little small) but it doesn't matter. What does matter is:
a) the amazing location. It is 10 minutes walk into Gargnano village, where you can wander around and also get ferries to the larger towns around the lake;
b) the ludicrous amount of time and money that went into the renovation, but also goes into the day-to-day landscaping and maintenance; and
c) the highly impressive staff, including the excellent kitchen. We ate 2 of our 3 evenings meals elsewhere and both were disappointing, although Gargnano has a Michelin-starred place we didn't try. We should have taken more meals at the villa. The chef is ex-El Bulli and it shows in the ludicrous number of amuse bouche.
This is simply a very adult place to come, although babies are welcome in the cottages (they are less tolerant of children). No silly hotel signs or logos in the rooms, no signing for anything, no loyalty scheme. Just a group of people going out of there way to make your stay as happy as possible. Free laundry and free mini-bars are sensible anywhere with high room rates, but you so rarely see it. Same with good quality toiletries (Aqua di Parma), silk-linked robes, an Asian-style pool service, fantastic in-room music system etc. If you want a computer they will give you a free laptop for the duration of the stay - full wireless in the grounds. The quality level is almost funny at times - rose petals sprinkled in your loo during turndown, Faber Castell pencils in the rooms, your check-in details presented in a Mont Blanc leather folder, Euro 50 pots of AdP bath crystals (which we used up in two days!). The pathways are made of sparkling white crushed marble, the pool from grey granite.
We flew on BA from London to Verona, where the hotel picked us up in a house Mercedes (Euro 200 one-way). Brescia is nearer if you want to fly Ryanair from the UK. Leaving, we had them drop us at the railway station an hour away where we took a train to Verona (2 trains per hour, 25 min journey) and saw the sights before taking the late flight back.
I think its fair to say that we both felt something very special about this place. Only the Mandarin Oriental in Chiang Mai has had a similar effect on me - a feeling that you totally enveloped in a different world. If you are planning a trip to Italy it is well worth a detour - the excellent and cheap Italian train network means it is easily reachable from Milan, Venice etc.
Jul 31, 2009, 7:09 am
#5
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I actually kept the email confirmation so I'd know exactly what we had if we decided to go again! It was:
"1 One-Bedroom Suite for double occupancy with king size bed, located in our ‘Casa dei Fiori’ Park Cottage offering a private covered patio with view over the gardens and beyond the lake at the rate of € 1.300,-- per night"
"1 One-Bedroom Suite for double occupancy with king size bed, located in our ‘Casa dei Fiori’ Park Cottage offering a private covered patio with view over the gardens and beyond the lake at the rate of € 1.300,-- per night"
Jul 31, 2009, 7:16 am
#7
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Casa del Fiori is a compromise - not as nicely decorated as the rest and a little dark.
Last edited by vuittonsofstyle; Jul 31, 2009 at 7:17 am Reason: addition
Jul 31, 2009, 7:19 am
#8
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Posts: 1,068
BEST location for me is La Limonaia (it is not in the main house, but is incredibly stylish and private and the suites are much more spacious) or what used to be called 'Bob's boat house', which is THE best 2-storey suite, right on the edge of the lake. Nothing compares.
Casa del Fiori is a compromise - not as nicely decorated as the rest and a little dark.
Casa del Fiori is a compromise - not as nicely decorated as the rest and a little dark.
Jul 31, 2009, 7:21 am
#9
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Some pictures here. These make it seem chintzier than it felt at the time, to be honest! The style works well when you're there. The bad weather also makes these photo look darker than I remember it, although we are talking 2 years ago.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30566696@N06/3774311337/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30566696@N06/3775115766/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30566696@N06/3774311275/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30566696@N06/3774311337/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30566696@N06/3775115766/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30566696@N06/3774311275/
Jul 31, 2009, 7:39 am
#11
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Here there and everywhere
Posts: 6,303
From memory, La Limonaia has two accommodations within it - the main suite being the best. Raffles photos of Casa dei Fiori confirm to me that this is a less well decorated part of the hotel (some may feel it is more 'historic'?) and is also somewhat dark. It may be bigger, but it doesn't FEEL bigger. La Limonaia is so much nicer, with better views and more light.
Jul 31, 2009, 7:44 am
#12
Join Date: Feb 2005
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From memory, La Limonaia has two accommodations within it - the main suite being the best. Raffles photos of Casa dei Fiori confirm to me that this is a less well decorated part of the hotel (some may feel it is more 'historic'?) and is also somewhat dark. It may be bigger, but it doesn't FEEL bigger. La Limonaia is so much nicer, with better views and more light.
Jul 31, 2009, 9:17 am
#13
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Here there and everywhere
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Absolutely, but I think they sell it separately sometimes, hence the confusion, as when we were there, you could just opt for the upper floor suite, which was glorious. If you can get something in this 'wing', it would be far superior to the Fiori wing, which we found very dismal. Otherwise, the rooms in the main house are beautiful, but not suite-sized, hence our love of Limonaia.
Jul 31, 2009, 10:51 am
#14
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http://www.villafeltrinelli.com/home...iew_right.html
villa - 13 rooms
casa di fiori - 3 rooms
casa rustica - 3 rooms
la limonaia - 1 room
boat house - 1 room
villa - 13 rooms
casa di fiori - 3 rooms
casa rustica - 3 rooms
la limonaia - 1 room
boat house - 1 room
Last edited by Kagehitokiri; Jan 23, 2011 at 5:20 am
Aug 1, 2009, 7:17 am
#15
Join Date: Feb 2005
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The Villa Feltrinelli sent me a couple of photos of each suite. I chose La Limonaia as it looked brighter. The bedrooms in both suites have the same shade of pink and the same slightly fussy looking furniture. Not really my style but I hope that, as Raffles says, it will look better in reality!