Castello di Bornato: A Living Legacy in Franciacorta

Less than an hour from Como lies a castle that carries almost a thousand years of Italian history. Castello di Bornato rises above the soft hills of Franciacorta, its towers and walls tracing a story that reaches back to the Romans. It is not a relic but a family home alive with work and memory where wine is still made and every stone has its place in the long rhythm of time.

Luigi Fera lives here with his family and speaks of the castle as one speaks of a relative. Built in the twelfth century on Roman ruins it has seen centuries of war, peace and transformation. Two towers remain from its defensive years and from their height you can see the vineyards that have always tied the castle to the land.

When the Renaissance arrived the fortress changed character. Within the old walls rose Villa Orlando, a house made for beauty and for living rather than defence. Arches open to the garden Doric columns line the portico and the rooms inside bloom with frescoes of myth and light. The Salone d’Onore still shows painted ceilings and delicate stucco work that have survived five hundred years. Walking through you can imagine the echo of music or the sound of visitors arriving from Brescia or Milan to see the new art of living that the age had promised.

Outside the gardens tell their own story. The Italian garden speaks of geometry and order while the later English garden loosens the design and lets nature wander. Ancient trees stand like sentinels cedars and ginkgo and a vast Sophora japonica whose branches have watched two centuries of harvests and family gatherings. A small nineteenth century grotto hides among them built for reflection and romance.

Beneath the villa lie cellars cut into the hill their vaulted ceilings cool through every season. They once stored supplies for long winters and now hold rows of bottles resting in the quiet air. The same underground rooms that kept the fortress alive now shape the wines that carry its name.

The Fera family has been making wine here for generations among the oldest producers in Franciacorta. Luigi explains that the secret lies in the soil and the light. The ground was formed by glaciers thousands of years ago leaving stones that let the vines breathe. The hills create a gentle microclimate perfect for grapes that will become the region’s famous sparkling wine.

Visitors can feel this continuity at once. A short drive from Lake Como the castle opens its gates to tours that move from the medieval towers to the frescoed halls and down to the cellars. In each room history remains tangible not as display but as daily life. The air smells of stone and wood and something warm from the vines outside.

Castello di Bornato is remarkable not for grandeur but for endurance. Its medieval walls still stand, its Renaissance villa still welcomes guests, its gardens still follow the seasons and its cellars still age wine. The family who live here are not caretakers of a monument but participants in a long story that began with Roman stones and continues with each harvest.

The landscape of Franciacorta reflects the same balance between past and present. The name itself recalls the Franks who once settled these hills and the region has been known for its vineyards since the Middle Ages. The circular design of the castle’s vines lets every plant face the sun and wind, a quiet example of how tradition and invention meet in this corner of Lombardy.

Luigi Fera often says that the castle is a house before it is a monument and that its true strength is in the way it holds memory without freezing it. The children play where soldiers once stood guard, the family dinners take place where nobles once held court and in the cellars below bottles wait for the moment they will be opened and shared.

For travellers from Como or anyone drawn to Italy’s quiet corners Castello di Bornato offers a glimpse of history still alive. To see more of this story, its rooms, its gardens and the people who keep it breathing watch the full film on Como TV and step inside the living legacy of Franciacorta.