We chose this hotel because of the strong review in Karen Brown's B&B book on Italy. We were also interested in the agritourism concept and really, really wanted to try one while we were in Italy. We looked at many options and chose it because of its proximity to Venice and Ferrara (which is a World Heritage site). There were many other options that were appealing and we are sorry that we chose this property at this particular time. Because of our experience we DO NOT recommend it to other travellers.

Karen Brown's reviews were stunning on this property and the very unfortunate thing about our visit is that it happened to coincide with a day in which the Belfiore had two different wedding parties booked on the property. Seems like this would only add to the atmosphere of this beautiful little property, but the effect was to render all those wondeful little "extras" that are part of the agritourism experience impossible while we were there. In fact, we felt very much like we were "in the way" while we were there and would have preferred to stay somewhere where we were welcome.

For example, we arrived at the Belfiore around 4pm, at about the time that the first wedding party was winding down. We learned shortly after that it would not be possible to have dinner at the Inn, something which is advertised as one of the attractions of staying on this farm that grows its own fresh produce. In addition, the cooking lessons which are said to be available every day (according to the literature that is in their foyer and Karen Brown) of course were not possible since everyone was tied up cleaning and catering for the evening wedding. In addition we were told that we could not use the pool area for more than an hour because the next wedding would be coming in and they would expect to have the outdoor areas for their party. We retired to the living room to read, but we were asked to move so that they could clean the living room for the evening party. We ended up reading in our bedroom, which was clean, but nothing very special considering the nice spaces that should have been available elsewhere on the property.

We were trying not to be too disappointed and using a mix of Spanish and sign language we negotiated a deal where we would merely dine on whatever the wedding menu was (the idea being it would be simple for them). But, after waiting about ninety minutes or so, we inquired again and were then informed that it would "simply not be possible" for them to serve us dinner and we were told that we should go to town for dinner. No apologies, just a sad sigh from an overwhelmed host.

I can't tell you how disappointed we were with this experience. In essence, we were looking for that special experience that comes with staying at a working-farm-turned-Inn. We were sorely disappointed. Rationally, I understand that there is much more money to be made with weddings than our measly little hotel booking, but I think the proprietors had ample opportunity to tell us. We communicated with them over phone and by email and they never mentioned that they had weddings planned that day and that any of the activities or amenities would not be available. If they had done so we could have chosen another agritourism property and had a much better time. Instead we wasted an evening holed up in our room and in town.

So, one lesson for other travelers is to inquire about wedding parties before booking and to avoid the wedding season (May and I think September) completely. In addition, ASK whether the activities you are interested in will happen on the day that you stay there. Beware, though, that we tried to communicate several times with the hotel by phone and were not very successful as we could not find someone who could speak English, French, or Spanish. Since we did not speak (or write) Italian we could not ask a lot of questions. It seems that most of the help only speaks Italian so you'd be best served if you had some means to communicate with them in Italian. Still, if you have a choice, take another hotel if you can.