Besorah | By Michael L. Weiss
Some places make an impression. Others find a quiet place within us and remain there.
Reschio belongs to the latter.
In the hills where Umbria meets Tuscany, an ancient castle rises above a landscape of olive groves, woodlands, and fields that seem to unfold without hurry. The land moves in gentle waves toward the horizon, drawing the eye farther than the mind feels any need to follow. There is space here for silence, for wonder, and for the simple pleasure of being together.
For Cheryl and me, the privilege of staying here is something to savor slowly.
The Approach
After a two-hour flight from Sicily, we arrive in Rome, then drive for three hours into not just a property but another period of time. The enchantment begins along the drive, as Italian cypresses line the ascent toward the castle, which dates back to the year 1040. Tall, slender, and beautifully composed, they lend a quiet ceremony to the approach, their dark green forms rising against the softer contours of the hills.
I could not help thinking of the cypresses at our home in Atlanta, which now seem to have interpreted the assignment rather loosely. These Italian relatives possess a poise mine have yet to acquire. I shall spare them the photographs; comparisons within a family can be unkind.
At the castle entrance, once you walk through the gate, the Boot Room offers a wonderfully intimate welcome. Rows of boots stand ready for guests to borrow, and fresh flowers gather here before being arranged for the bedrooms and living spaces. With its open fireplace and abundance of blooms, it has the warmth of a country-house workroom, where the practical business of life becomes quietly beautiful. Even this modest ritual—the preparation of flowers, the provision of boots for a walk—has been given its own gracious setting.
A Different Intimacy with Italy
After the splendor and bustle of the mainstays of Italian tourism—Rome, Taormina, Venice, and Florence—Reschio offers a different intimacy with Italy. Those cities fill our days with movement and discovery. Here, we are invited to linger: to watch the light cross an old stone wall, to let a conversation wander, to find that an afternoon can be complete without having accomplished anything at all. It is an elusive luxury, and a gift to have found.
I am learning to accept this last proposition with considerable enthusiasm.
Taormina gathers its visitors along lively streets suspended above the sea. Reschio rests within an immense private landscape, far from the flow of passing crowds. One comes here deliberately, leaving the familiar tourist thoroughfares for the quiet of the Umbrian countryside. Its remoteness is part of its romance; the space around it allows the world to recede.
A Thousand Years, Lovingly Renewed
Across the estate’s roughly 3,700 acres, historic farmhouses rest among the folds of the countryside. More than fifty belong to this landscape, many lovingly restored, their weathered forms preserving something of the lives once lived within them. At the heart of it all stands the thousand-year-old castle, its walls carrying the weight of centuries with an almost effortless grace.
Once a fortification overlooking the valley of Pierle, it has known noble families, changing fortunes, and the long passage of time. Today, its enduring strength shelters a remarkable tenderness.
The modern story of Reschio began in 1994, when Count Antonio Bolza purchased the neglected estate. His son, Count Benedikt Bolza, a London-trained architect, and Benedikt’s wife, the artist Donna Nencia Corsini, have helped shape its renewal through decades of patient work. They lived in the castle while raising their family, giving the restoration a deeply personal foundation.
That history lends meaning to the beauty. These rooms held a family’s life before welcoming travelers into their own brief chapter of it. The care feels accumulated, the result of years spent looking, imagining, choosing, and returning to look again.
Detail Rewards Attention
Throughout the property, detail rewards attention. Bespoke furnishings, art, and carefully considered lighting sit within ancient architecture with a confidence that allows each its own presence. Stone retains its texture and age. A graceful piece of furniture brings another line to the composition. Light draws the eye toward a corner, a doorway, a view.
In the castle’s rooms and suites, exposed wooden beams lend warmth and rhythm overhead, while wood floors bring a mellow richness underfoot. Antiques, paintings, and old photographs give the interiors a sense of memory. Alongside them are pieces conceived by Reschio’s own design studio: graceful four-poster beds, dressing tables, beautifully proportioned bars, and washstands combining marble and brass. Their lines and materials answer the architecture around them, making each room feel like a composition assembled slowly over generations.
Every detail seems to have been painstakingly planned, down to the things a guest might never consciously notice. Newly made elements carry the manners of another age, looking so at home that one might imagine they had always been there. Modern lighting, climate control, and conveniences allow the rooms to function with contemporary ease while preserving their old-world atmosphere. It is a remarkable achievement: the romance of an ancient castle, with the comfort and efficiency that make it a pleasure to inhabit.
Even the coffee machines in our rooms were designed in-house for Reschio. That small revelation says a great deal. Here, the attention follows you all the way to your morning espresso.
Our room offers its own quiet lessons in place. From one window, we look toward the old Church of San Michele, whose ancient walls now shelter yoga and other restorative practices. There is something moving about that continuity: a building once devoted to prayer still offering a place to become still, to breathe, and to attend to the life within.
From another window, we see the dividing line between Umbria and Tuscany, marked by a single small road. Two storied regions meet with such little ceremony. The hills carry on across it, indifferent to the distinction, while we enjoy the unusual privilege of contemplating both from our room.
The more closely one looks, the more there is to appreciate.
Having spent much of my professional life around complex buildings, I find particular pleasure in this kind of care. Beauty depends upon countless decisions, many of them scarcely noticed once the work is complete. At Reschio, those decisions seem to speak to one another. The effect is harmonious, yet full of personality; refined, yet warm enough to invite you to settle in.
There is also a lovely sense of enchantment. Imagine Alice passing through the looking glass and finding herself within an ancient Italian castle, where imagination has been given exquisite materials and ample time. Reschio carries that spirit of discovery: the feeling that another quiet delight may wait just beyond the next doorway.
Even the White Rabbit, one hopes, would put away his watch.
Room to Be Human
There are no televisions on the property. The internet is readily available, so connection remains a choice; the invitation here is to turn our attention toward mind, body, and spirit. Without a screen supplying the room’s constant soundtrack, there is room for thought to settle and conversation to deepen.
I find myself reflecting on how easily modern technology draws us, day by day, away from the very things that make us human. We receive more information, yet sometimes give one another less attention. Here, the absence of television feels like a small act of restoration. We can listen to a person without competing voices, read without a running commentary, and look out of a window simply because the world beyond it is beautiful.
Humanity deserves that kind of attention. So do the people we love.
Evenings, Days, and Horses
Romance finds a natural home here. In the Palm Court, glass and slender architectural lines bring an airy elegance to the castle’s courtyard. As evening settles, piano music lends the room a gentle pulse, inviting another conversation, another sip, another few moments before dinner.
Dining offers its own changes of scene. At Ristorante al Castello, the terrace looks toward the sunset, giving the evening a setting as memorable as the meal. Ristorante Alle Scuderie draws guests into another expression of the estate’s character, with lofty interiors, garden tables, and a sheltered terrace. These are places to give dinner the time it deserves, to let the pleasures of the table become part of the memory of being here.
By day, the pool rests among pine trees and gardens, with the countryside beyond. Horseback riding offers a different intimacy with the hills; hiking and woodland walks bring the landscape close enough to hear and feel. There are paths to follow and quiet places in which to stop following anything at all. One can spend an afternoon becoming wonderfully absorbed in nature, with the reassuring knowledge that considerable comfort awaits at the end of it.
The horses are an essential part of Reschio’s identity. Count Antonio’s love of riding and classical dressage helped establish the estate’s tradition of breeding and training purebred Spanish horses, admired for their elegance, presence, and calm disposition. There is something entirely fitting about their place here: the proud carriage of a head, the measured movement of a powerful body, the grace that comes from strength held in balance.
Private lessons and rides along the estate’s trails allow guests to share in that tradition, with horses and ponies suited to different levels of experience. For those who prefer to admire rather than mount, their beauty is a pleasure in itself. In the equestrian theatre, the disciplined movements of dressage give that beauty another expression, as precise and carefully cultivated as the architecture around it.
Beneath the castle, former wine cellars have become a Roman Bathhouse, giving spaces once devoted to the patient aging of wine a new life devoted to repose. The large bath is lined with candles, their wicks aflame. A converted silo becomes a rain shower feature in a separate section of the bathhouse pool. Between the water, the woods, the horses, and the simple freedom to remain still, Reschio makes retreat feel like an art one might happily spend years learning.
Beyond these pleasures lies the landscape itself, holding the estate in a broad embrace. The hills give perspective. The woods invite wandering. The distance between things becomes part of their beauty.
And somewhere within that spaciousness, the familiar urgency of travel begins to loosen its hold.
With Cheryl beside me, I am reminded that the most precious moments of a journey can be wonderfully simple. Time to talk. Time to look. Time to sit together while the day gently changes around us. There is a romance in such moments that no itinerary can arrange, however diligently we attempt to organize our happiness.
Privacy Is Part of That Art
A stay here requires considerable means, and the setting appeals to people with cultivated interests in design, art, music, and the pleasure of living well. It also offers something valuable to those whose lives attract attention: the freedom to enjoy a beautiful place without becoming someone else’s spectacle.
As we understand the rules for our stay, photography is carefully restricted, fellow guests are not to be photographed, and unauthorized drone flights carry a $5,000 penalty per incident. Everyone’s peace and privacy deserve protection. After the spectacle of visitors in Taormina seemingly determined to document every moment, this discretion feels like a gracious return to civility.
In a world so often captivated by its own reflection, where an experience can become a performance before it has even been enjoyed, I find that discretion deeply welcome. There is relief in allowing a moment to belong to the people living it. A conversation can remain a conversation; an evening can pass without an audience. The loveliness around us needs no public proof.
One Gentle Refinement
If I could suggest one gentle refinement, it would be a brighter lighting option in the rooms. The soft illumination beautifully evokes an earlier age, giving the interiors an intimate, almost painterly atmosphere. There are moments, however, when examining a small detail or reading a book on the sofa calls for a little more light, especially for my experienced eyes.
On a few occasions, I resorted to the flashlight on my iPhone—a modest concession to modern technology in the midst of my newfound devotion to escaping it. A brighter setting available when needed would make these lovely rooms still more comfortable.
That small observation does nothing to diminish my desire to return. Indeed, I can imagine going a step further and acquiring a small home here on the estate for extended stays.
A Rarefied Category
I place Reschio in a unique, rarefied category. The distinction comes from the completeness of its vision: architecture, interiors, landscape, pleasure, and privacy have all been considered together.
Reschio brings together so much of what makes Italy extraordinary: the dignity of age, the skill of the artisan, the generosity of the countryside, and an instinct for making daily life beautiful. To my mind, it belongs among the world’s finest retreats.
It is a rare treat, available to a fortunate few, and one I receive with gratitude. The privilege reaches beyond the comforts of a beautiful stay. We have been welcomed into a place that a family has spent decades bringing back to life, with enough imagination to renew it and enough reverence to preserve its soul.
For a little while, we are allowed to share in that devotion.
The castle will remain when we leave. Light will continue to move across its stone, and the hills will carry on toward the horizon.
But I suspect something of its peace will travel home with us.
Reschio is a perfect escape from a mad, mad world—and a beautiful place to remember what it means to be human.
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