A welcome note from the owner
Many people ask, “Why open a boutique hotel in Panicale, Umbria?” The answer is that I have such a fond and deep connection to Panicale, I wanted to do something positive for this beautiful Umbrian hill-top town. When I first went inside Rastrello’s 500-year-old building in 2017, I could feel that its layout was perfect for a bed and breakfast and its abandoned and dilapidated state urged me to want to restore it.
My parents have been living on our family olive farm, directly below Panicale, since 1995; and my husband and I were married here in 2001. Since then, we have been spending a large part of every year here, making it feel like our second home.
Our core business is in Latin America in the bar/restaurant side of hospitality, as well as crafting small-batch, artisanal beverages. For each of our craft products, we like to create the appropriate atmosphere for clients/guests to enjoy them. With that similar concept in mind, we approached our olive oil and, now, boutique hotel.
Our brand name “Rastrello” comes from the small hand rake that we use during the olive harvest, which is a core part of local culture.
We have about 1,000 trees, most of which are 400 years old. While we have been making olive oil since 1995, we only started to market it in 2017, when we began with the hotel planning. I am an olive oil sommelier and wanted to join my olive oil knowledge into our hotel concept and, therefore, chose the same name for our boutique hotel. Each guest room is named after a different local olive variety and we will offer olive oil tastings, cooking classes focused on olive oil, as well as the olive harvest experience.
Rastrello is part of Panicale’s medieval walls and our wall-top garden overlooks Lago Trasimeno. The two-year-long renovations were quite intense, to say the least. From having to upgrade the town’s electric capacity to building a completely new roof, plumbing and electricity throughout, as well as getting it up to building norms and standards, it is not easy modernizing a historic building. I had a wonderful team of architects and designers, builders, and hydraulic and electrical engineers, who were able to turn our beautiful building into where we are proud to welcome you today.
I want Panicale to have a jewel of a place that will attract the traveler, who is looking for an Umbrian cultural experience. I describe our style as “approachable luxury” connected to the land we are in. Umbria is called the “green heart of Italy” not just because it is the only landlocked region in Italy. It is because of its healthy, clean, outdoors and, many times, unexplored areas that are beautiful and captivating.
Panicale is a perfect example of all that Umbria has to offer and we hope that you will feel this when you visit us at Rastrello Boutique Hotel.
Benvenuto a Panicale,
