Castles and Country Weddings....Italy

Well, what a month March has been! We've gone from the freak snow of February to the amazing sunny days of March. Just perfect for wanting to laze around in the garden and not do any work, but no rest for the wicked, and my feet literally haven't touched the ground, so what does that say about me??

 I know I haven’t been around a lot on the blog, but we are currently visiting some “wow factor” venues that we could possibly suggest to our Country Weddings Italy couples. More of those in the near future (and then I’m off to bed as we have another visit arranged for tomorrow morning!) but in the meantime, and I know I’ve told you about this before, Latium (or Lazio as it is known here in Italy), the Italian Region home to Rome, to name its most famous city, is full of the most amazing architecture from all periods. Most of the castles, however, date back to the Medieval Age.

I thought I might tempt you with a few photographs of some of these magnificent buildings. Some of the castles are still lived in by their aristocratic owners, but many are now also open to the public, to visit or, here it comes, to hire as wedding venues! Can you imagine feeling like a true-blood Italian aristocrat or princess in your own castle for a day??

Some of the castles have been transformed into hotels, at several levels from B&B to 5-star hotel. Some of them are museums on a day-to-day basis, but can be hired for weddings anyway (they close the museum for the day, don't worry, no uninvited guests!) At least two are now  municipal wedding halls, which means you can use them as your legal civil wedding venue there, maybe with the mayor marrying you in the castle museum or up on the terrace overlooking the surrounding countryside.  One castle is famous for both its beautiful rose gardens and the wonderful waterfalls nearby. Perfect as a backdrop for photos….

There are castles big and small, some hotels to stay in for a week, or locations just for your special day, some municipal wedding halls or museums. Some are by the sea, some by a lake and others in the countryside surrounded by exquisite medieval villages or green fields. Just perfect, in any of these cases for a Country Wedding in Italy! 

If you’d like to know more about using a Latium castle as your wedding venue, or also as your holiday location for you and your wedding guests, please let us know and we can send you more information. In the meanwhile, take a look at the pictures to see the plethora of castles on offer!

Country Weddings Italy Location Focus: Formello, Veio Regional Parkand the Via Francigena

I admit it: I think I live in a gorgeous place! Daniela and Nicola, a.k.a. Country Weddings Italy, both moved to this area a few years ago, and we both truly appreciate its beauty, with the additional advantage of its proximity to the bright lights of the Eternal City, while being able to joy the peace, beauty and harmony of the wonderful northern Latium landscapes.

These thoughts were some of the first that brought us to think about setting up our business here. Wedding planning and styling is surely helped when the surrounding landscape is already something fantastic to work with. Wedding venues here are spectacular, but often overlooked by overseas couples, who maybe do not know what beauty lies outside the much publicized Tuscany, Rome city centre itself or the much-talked-about Amalfi Coast. All spectacular, rest assured, but why not come off that beaten track a little and try something different? Here’s a little history, info and photos about the village we live in and the surrounding area.

Formello village centre is still a medieval masterpiece, a walled settlement, with a grand stone gateway entrance and breathtaking little lanes and squares that cascade gently down the hillside , one after the other. The village square is dominated by Palazzo Chigi, a former aristocratic country home of the Chigi princes, now the village’s library, museum and town hall offices, and a splendid civil wedding venue!

Formello lies inside the Veio Regional Park, 15,000 hectares of natural parkland which also contain several medieval towns and villages. Formello looks onto a part of the Park, the Sorbo Valley with its parkland open to all who want to wander awhile through nature. The area is magnificent and would make a lovely setting for wedding photographs.

Formello is also the last stopping place before reaching Rome - the final destination on the Via Francigena, a pilgrim route from Canterbury to Rome, officially established in 990 A.D by the Archbishop of Canterbury of the era, Sigeric, who travelled this very route to visit the Pope to receive his Archbishop’s cape. 

All this to help you get an idea of the area where you could be planning your Italian wedding this very minute!  Gorgeous countryside, beautiful villages full of historical interest, just a short 20-minute drive from Rome. The photos speak for themselves, but we can provide you with any information you may need about wedding venues and accommodation in the area. Visit our website www.countryweddingsitaly.com to read about what we can do for you, and contact us at info@countryweddingsitaly.com. . We would love to hear from you! 

Nicola 

Country Weddings Italy Website Online!

So very excited and happy this week. Our new website, www.countryweddingsitaly.com is now online! That's the equivalent of a shop's opening day, a birthday celebration and Christmas all rolled into one for Daniela and myself! We are ready for business. So much work has gone into setting up the business ready to take on its first couples. We will carry on searching for the best suppliers, wedding venues and ideas for our brides and grooms, but we have met so many lovely people in the businees in the last few months, we feel truly privileged to be a part of this exciting world.
Please take a look at the website and get in touch, even if it's only to say Hi. We can also be found on Facebook as "Country Weddings Italy" and on Twitter as "Country Weddings Italy" or "@countryweditaly".
A huge thanks goes to Massimo Bertuola at RomaNordWeb for all his hard work, late nights and patience while setting up the website, and as always, many thanks to photographer Fabrizio Vinti for allowing us to use his wonderful photographs.