If you are looking for a place to call home while touring the Piemonte area La Villa is it! Whether you want to hang out at La Villa or tour the region, Chris and Nicola ensure that your time in Piemonte will meet your needs and expectations. After a wonderful breakfast our morning always began by picking up our day's customized itinerary for vineyard tours, beautiful drives, and/or festival and food experiences. Nicola and Chris were instrumental in providng the knowledge and relationships necessary to ensure our time in Piemonte was perfect. We also liked the fact that we could experience an exquisite meal at La Villa if we were too tired to go out in the evenings. I would highly recommend La Villa Hotel for its location, lovely accomodations, assistance in planning daily itineraries, and personalized attention. BTW, we were there in October 2010 - a beautiful time to be in the Piemonte area.

The best part of not planning a 2-week honeymoon is that you run into places like this!!

Having just spent time in Parma, Italy to eat we wanted to relax in the countryside with our full bellies. A quick web search later and by reviews and pictures we decided this was the place. We called and luckily we're able to get a 2-night stay for the following nights. Not having a car; we trained from Parma to Alessandria and taxi'd from there to the Villa (nov. 1 is a holiday and so we couldn't get a rental car). We talked the taxi guy to 36Euro for the trip. (the villa said most charge 60euro, great start!)

Upon driving to the villa my heart was racing. The drive alone is spectacular and Im thinking, our honeymoon in the Italian countryside is here! Pulling into the Villa you can only smile. Upon walking into the reception room, you smile more. Upon meeting Chris (owner) at the bar and having him offer you champagne upon arrival; you're about ready to burst.

Being brought to your room, I actually cried. Now I best most people don't have this reaction but I just finished our wedding, (Im tired) & we had been to Florence and Parma and had amazing experiences at both of them but this took the cake! I was just overwhelmed and tears started. My husband thinks I am crazy but he agrees that when you walk onto your private balcony, it is breathtaking.

Nicola and Chris have made a dream in the middle of Casalotto.

The room was just perfect. Room 15. Shabby Chic meets Italy. If I could have brought the bed home with me, I might have. Finally a real (not 2-twin beds = queen) bed! The claw footed bathtub, the skeleton key for your room, the VIEW, the quietness of the location, etc. etc. all made the villa a perfect 10 out of 10.

We didn't have a car, so we ate in for dinner/lunch/breakfast. AMAZING. The chef is fabulous and so great to chat with. We found the food for lunch and dinners to be great. The dinner is also a unique experience and very neat. Everyone who "signs" up for dinner that night, eats at the same time. Everyone comes to the lobby at 8pm, Nicola (wine guru) chats with each group and helps them select their wine for the night; then about 830pm, everyone goes upstairs and eats. Separate tables, but all at the same time. Its such a great experience and makes the villa more like home.

The grounds are worth spending as much time outdoors as possible. They let us use their bikes and we biked for 2-3 hours around the countryside through tiny town after tiny town. Honeymoon dream thing to do - checked off list!

Regarding price, this was our splurge. I thought 195euro for the room was completely acceptable price being that other places are WAY more than that and are not as beautiful. The cost that gets you (which we knew going in) is the cost of the misc. food and beverage you consume. You're unaware but basically you want to drink wine or champagne at every turn because the location is so relaxing. Sitting outside in the chill air with a glass of red wine - check. However, when you leave you realize you had a lot more wine than you thought. Oh well, it's our honeymoon, and we'll take it easy on the next hotel.

I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone looking to relax. We also got massages, which were average-good. Not 100% necessary.

Don't miss this place if you have some time to stop in Casalotto. We will be going back.

Building your own hotel is a task that has broken many a couple, its tough work, requires, bravery, vision and faith but when it comes off you end up with something to be proud of. What Nicola and Chris have done at La Villa is most definitely something to be proud of.

The design isn't sumptuous luxury, its classy chic. The attention to detail is excellent with the whole coming together as a project any leading designer would be happy to lend their name to.

But it doesn't end there, they aren't just handy with a shovel and sewing machine, they are excellent hosts. Between them they cover all the areas of good service that you would expect from a boutique hotel but impart their knowledge of the area, food and wine as if they are old friends and not hotel managers.

Indeed it seems to me that this is the experience they are selling, it feels like you are staying with wealthy friends who are determined to make you feel at home and look after your every need and ensure you get every last bit of enjoyment out of your stay. The staff take their lead and are all charming and efficient.

As a hotelier of nearly 40 years experience I take my hat off to them, this is what all 21st century hotels should be like and to get it right first time an extraordinary feat.

Well done and I hope we get to stay longer next time.

Nicholas & Sarah

La villa is a very lovely place in the middle of the vineyards. However, It is not as luxurious as they would pretend. It is still very good standard but let's say for the price you pay, you could get better value in the region.

The food at the restaurant was very good and we were well advised for the wine.

One minor point: we had quite an incident on our first night: as we arrived late, the owner had kindly left the key on the door --as it is a guest house, there is no reception open all night-- and when we arrived at the hotel.. somebody was in our bed! The person left and we called the owners, after a few minutes on the phone, they accepted to bring new pillows (but no new bed sheets). The day after the owners didn't really apologize and what is most they didn't make any commercial gestures... we were hoping they would give us a discount on the meal, offer a glass of wine, or anything like that but they didn't do anything about that... we didn't ask for it but still we thought that it would come to their mind!