For the couple dreaming of centuries-old stone, homegrown Tuscan wine and a few very beautiful days hidden away in the Maremma countryside.
Some places seem to have absorbed their surroundings over time. Castello di Vicarello is one of them.
Set high in the hills of Maremma, surrounded by vineyards, olive groves and acres of Tuscan countryside, this medieval castle feels completely at home in its landscape.
There are ancient stone walls covered in greenery. Terracotta terraces overlooking the hills. Gardens that tumble away from the castle. Pools hidden among the grounds. Wine made from vines growing on the estate.
But what makes Vicarello particularly interesting isn't simply that it's beautiful. It's deeply personal.
This is a property that began as a family home, shaped over decades by the people who restored and lived in it. And even today, as an intimate luxury hotel, that sense of home hasn't disappeared.
For us, that's what makes it worth knowing about - wedding or otherwise.
First, Maremma
Maremma sits in southern Tuscany, where the landscape becomes a little wilder and everything seems to spread out. Vineyards disappear into wooded hills. Olive groves stretch across the valleys. Medieval villages sit on hilltops, and the Tyrrhenian coast lies beyond the countryside.
It has all the things people come to Tuscany hoping to find, but there is something wonderfully unhurried about this part of the region.
And Vicarello makes the most of it.
The castle sits surrounded by its own land, with views stretching across the hills and very little to interrupt them. This isn't somewhere we'd want to use simply as a base for rushing around Tuscany. It's somewhere we'd actually stay.
The Story of Vicarello
Castello di Vicarello's story is one of the things we like most about it.
Carlo and Aurora Baccheschi Berti discovered the ruined castle in the 1980s and spent years bringing it back to life. It became their family home before opening to guests, and rather than erasing that history in favor of a perfectly polished hotel, much of the character has remained.
The interiors feel collected rather than decorated. Antiques sit alongside pieces gathered through years of travel. Heavy wooden doors, exposed beams and terracotta floors remind you how old the building actually is, while fabrics, art and furniture give each space its own personality.
Nothing feels particularly anonymous.
And in a world of beautiful hotels that can occasionally begin to look remarkably similar, we find that rather refreshing.
Life at the Castle
Vicarello is intimate, with just a small collection of suites and a private villa spread throughout the estate. That scale changes the experience.
Mornings can begin slowly over breakfast. Afternoons disappear beside one of the pools or somewhere in the gardens. There are terraces for sitting, paths through the grounds and views that give you very little incentive to be anywhere else.
This isn't really a hotel where we'd arrive with a packed itinerary.
The point is being here.
And much of that experience revolves around the table.
The Food, the Garden and the Wine
Food at Vicarello feels inseparable from the property itself.
The estate has its own organic kitchen garden, filled with vegetables, herbs and seasonal produce that make their way into the kitchen. The cooking is rooted in Tuscany and in the ingredients available around it, with the kind of seasonality that makes perfect sense when the garden is just outside.
It also feels particularly appropriate given Vicarello's history as a family home. This isn't a place where food exists simply because a luxury hotel requires a restaurant. Cooking and hospitality have long been part of the identity of the estate.
There are cooking classes for guests who want to go a little further than simply eating it all, with the kitchen becoming another way to experience Tuscany rather than just somewhere dinner comes from.
And then there's the wine.
Vicarello's vineyards stretch across the estate, with seven hectares dedicated to organically cultivated vines. The property produces its own collection of wines, made from grapes grown in the surrounding Maremma landscape. That means the bottle being opened at dinner hasn't simply been selected because it's Tuscan. It belongs specifically to this place. There is something quite different about drinking wine while looking at the land it came from.
A tasting here isn't simply another activity to add to an itinerary. You can walk through the vineyards, learn about what is being produced and then sit down to drink it in the place where it began.
And when you combine that with ingredients coming from the garden, long lunches outside and the very Italian tendency for dinner to become the evening's main event, food and wine become one of the most compelling reasons to stay at Vicarello.
You don't need to create a Tuscan experience around the castle. You eat it. You drink it. You're surrounded by it.
Why Vicarello Works for a Wedding
Vicarello makes the most sense when the wedding is treated as a few days together rather than a single event. Its intimate scale is a large part of that.
Your closest family and friends can stay at the castle itself, making them part of the rhythm of the property from the moment they arrive. Additional guests can stay nearby and join for the celebrations, allowing the estate to remain intimate without requiring the wedding itself to be tiny.
And there are enough distinct spaces and experiences here to let the weekend evolve naturally.
A welcome dinner can feel entirely different from the wedding dinner. Guests can spend time around the pool or vineyards between events. Aperitivo can happen outside as the light changes, before everyone moves into dinner against the castle's old stone.
Most importantly, the property gives you something to build a weekend around. You aren't trying to entertain a group of people at an isolated event venue between scheduled activities. They're staying at a working wine estate in Tuscany, with gardens, pools, food and wine already woven into the experience.
That takes some of the pressure off the wedding itself. Not every moment needs to be programmed.
And for couples who want the trip to feel as memorable as the ceremony, we think that is one of Vicarello's greatest strengths.
Who We Picture Here
The Vicarello couple is drawn to places with stories. They appreciate beautiful hotels, but they'd choose character over perfection. They care about food and wine, and they want Italy to be something their guests actually experience rather than simply the backdrop to the photographs.
They're also comfortable with intimacy. This isn't the couple looking for a huge resort where every guest stays under one roof, or a ballroom designed for hundreds of people. They want their closest people staying at the heart of the property and a wedding that feels connected to the castle rather than imposed upon it.
They want long dinners, beautiful tables, afternoons by the pool and considerably more wine than anyone intended.
The wedding itself is elegant, but never at the expense of feeling relaxed.
And the memories aren't limited to the ceremony and dinner.
They're the bottle of wine opened at lunch the day before.
The swim that morning.
Coffee on the terrace.
Dinner stretching much later than planned.
And the feeling, however briefly, that this little corner of Tuscany belonged to all of you.
Want to learn more about Tuscany weddings, Castello di Vicarello, or planning a European wedding? We can help.
Castello di Vicarello provided The European Wedding Edit with approved imagery for editorial use.
