Main Menu > Accommodations > Castello della Montecchia

Facilities within the Estate

Swimming Pool: As our guests you are entitled to use the pool of the Golf Club next door. The pool is open from Tuesday to Friday from 10.30 am to 7.30 pm (on weekends the access is limited to regular members, and on Monday the Club is closed).

Tennis Courts: As our guests you are entitled to use the 4 hard courts in the tennis club down the road right next to the Golf Club. The management of the tennis club can also supply rackets. Two courts are available between 3 pm and 8 pm. From 8 pm to 11 pm, 3 courts are available. A trainer is also available, cost depends on whether the lessons are individual or for a group of people.

Villa Capodilista: The elegant 16th century villa which is considered one of the highlights of the area overlooks the estate from a hill at the foot of the Euganean regional park. Built as a hunting lodge in 1568, this was the brainchild of Dario Varotari, a painter flirting with architecture, a pupil of Veronese who remained faithful to his own métier and covered the rooms in mannerist frescoes. Varotari designed a severely square building with identical facades: each with two side towers between which extend double-storey loggias. The formal severity produces a delightful contrast with the playfully theatrical loggias, their frescos and their elaborately decorated pediments. The basically square structure of the hedge-lined terrace is also broken up by semicircular extensions, so-called exedra. The hill provides a splendid view - it is reminiscent of Leonardesque backgrounds - across a luxuriant plain, sprinkled with cornfields and vineyards, terracotta-coloured farmhouses and gardens, poplars and cypresses, bordered by the Euganean Hills. These are, so to speak, the local mountains for Padua and for Venice. On a clear day, they can be seen from the Serenissima, some 40 km to the east. The villa is open to the public twice a week, on Wednesday and Saturday. Guests staying at Montecchia are granted a reduction on the entrance fee.

The wine: The La Montecchia estate is primarily concerned with viticulture, an activity established here since the Middle Ages. Petrarch himself appreciated the local vintage, making his home at Arquà at the southern foot of the Euganean Hills. Black grapes predominate on these 50 acres: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere and Raboso, a local vine variety that is picked late, are all cultivated here. Merlot and Cabernet have been grown in La Montecchia since Napoleon I's day and are justifiably regarded as local vines. For some ten years now Conte Giordano Emo Capodilista, the owner and manager of La Montecchia, has made every effort to improve the quality of his wines still further. Most of them bear the controlled appellation D.O.C. Colli Euganei which is only awarded to superior growths. Prizes and recognition from the most notable wine critics like Robert Parker, Luca Maroni, "Gambero Rosso" and Luigi Veronelli have encouraged Giordano Emo to continue in this manner. Some half of the production is exported abroad.

Property Facilities Summary:
CD Player	Child Friendly
Golf	Golf Course Agreement
Groups Allowed	Home Produce
Ironing Equipment	Private Parking
Radio	Swimming Pool
Tennis Court

Facilities outside the Estate

Golf Club: The club "Golf della Montecchia", located immediately next to the estate, literally 3 minutes on foot, door to door is only one of three excellent golf clubs in the area. The Montecchia Golf Club lies below the Castello della Montecchia. It is a modern course built over a surface of about 820.000 square meters landscaped with ondulations and several lakes. The course (27 holes par 72 with a development of 6318 metres) is completely flat, very technical and requires a good concentration from the golfer who has to pay particular attention to the water obstacles that make the play more demanding. The guests of Montecchia are granted a 30% discount on the green fee of the Montecchia Golf Course. Two further excellent golf courses can be reached in less than 15 minutes by car.

The closest village to Montecchia is Selvazzano Dentro. There is no real recognisable centre, as all the shops run along this same main road, which is called 'Via Scapacchio'.

Abano Terme is the closest larger shopping centre. It has a large supermarket which is open until 8 o'clock in the evening every day of the week, also on Sundays. To reach Abano Terme turn right at the gate, and as you reach the large road, cross it following the sign to Abano.

The Spa Abano Terme: Abano Terme was known for its curative waters in Roman days, its mineral-rich water comes subterraneously from the Alps and shoots to the surface at a temperature of 70-80 degrees. One of the best spa hotels in Abano Terme, the Hotel Ritz Terme, specialises in therapeutic (fango, galvanotherapy, lymphatic draining, massages, hot baths and more) as well as wellness and beauty treatments (sauna, steambath, solarium, facials and more). Our guests may use the facilities every morning.

Culinary Matters: In most, but not all, of the Euganean Hills - some are just wooded - there are restaurants, trattorias and taverns providing delicious local food. Gallina padovana (chicken à la Padua), for instance, coniglio (rabbit), polenta con soppressa (polenta with brawn), risotto with erbe dei colli (wild local herbs) or baccalà (salt cod). And, of course, pasta in all its variations. To conclude, asiago or grano padano cheese. Guests dine in the midst of locals, delighting in the fragrant forest air.

Just by the estate is the Relais Golf Montecchia Restaurant belonging to the Golf Club della Montecchia. Enjoying an excellent reputation, it is an annexe of the Le Calandre Restaurant which boasts two Michelin stars.

The Euganean Hills: For the most part a fertile plain, the hinterland of Venice does hold some surprises in store: unexpectedly, about 20 km south-west of Padua, a group of solitary cone-shaped hills suddenly rises, the Colli Euganei or Euganean Hills. They have something of volcanic craters about them - a false impression - or of a natural wonder, as if some childish giant had played with damp lumps of earth and had slung them across the land. Some are high and wooded, others no more than mounds, climbed in a couple of minutes. Today the Colli are a protected regional park.

Excursions in the neighbourhood: Veneto region is steeped in history and culture, towns like Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Mantua, Ferrara and, of course, Venice are within easy reach. The numerous Veneto villas, the Villeggiatura, are a real must.

Villa Emo (Fanzolo): One of Palladio's most poetic buildings, Villa Emo is the only Palladian villa that has descended in male lines of the original family continuously since its construction. It lies in the close vicinity of the charming town Asolo, surrounded by an extensive park. This is a must of your list.

Villa Emo (Rivella): The remarkable Villa Emo (at Rivella, just near Monselice) can be viewed by appointment. The proprietor of this elegant Palladian-style villa is a cousin of Conte Giordano Emo Capodilista. Accessible on certain days, the ornamental garden remains a world of its own. "The average traveller would not dream what marvellous parks and gardens lie hidden behind commonplace castle walls on a country road", as the authoress Tryphosa Bates Batcheller once aptly remarked.