Castello Dal Pozzo Resort Lago Maggiore

Castello Dal Pozzo has no golf course. Its link with the game is service: the concierge arranges tee times at Lake Maggiore clubs, along with private transfers and tours. The resort has a page for golfers, and quote requests go through it.

According to the resort, three clubs lie a few minutes away. Golf Club Castelconturbia has 27 holes designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., among ancient trees, lakes and rolling hills. Bogogno Golf Resort has 36 holes, two 18-hole courses by Robert von Hagge. Golf Club des Iles Borromées has 18 holes with views of Lake Maggiore and the Borromean Islands, says the castle.

The courses are independent of the resort.

The first medieval castle was built by the Viscontis around the year 1000; in the sixteenth century the Visconti d'Aragona turned it into a noble residence. In the nineteenth century Marquis Claudio Dal Pozzo d'Annone commissioned British architect Richard Popwell Pullan to redesign it in Gothic Revival style: towers, arches, frescoes, stained glass and English gardens. The family has lived here for six generations and today Aimone and Guendalina Dal Pozzo run it.

The hotel chapter is recent: 2006 first licence, with 8 rooms in the south wing; 2010 opening of the five-star hotel and Le Fief restaurant; 2016 restoration of the stables, with 8 more rooms; 2022 a new Signature Suite.

Rooms are spread between the Neo-Gothic Castle, the eighteenth-century Visconti Palazzo and the former stables. They run from the 18 sq m Single through Superiors of 17 to 22 sq m to the Palazzo's Deluxe rooms of 22 to 28 sq m and the 35 sq m Queen Superior Barbara in the south tower. Check-in is from 3pm, check-out by 12 noon.

The historic park covers 24 hectares with rare botanical species and viewpoints. Since 2019 there has been an infinity pool, open May to September, with Folia Life serving cocktails and light dishes poolside from 10am to 6pm.

Declared services include e-bike rental, car hire straight from the resort, room service from 7am to 10.30pm, and rooms and main areas accessible to guests with reduced mobility. The resort welcomes small and medium-sized dogs and, for families, connecting rooms, cots and babysitting on request.

Le Fief is the restaurant in the Palazzo: cooking that reinterprets historic dishes and a selected wine list; dinner runs from 7.30pm to 10.30pm, dress code casual chic. Dan Garden Lounge, under the Castle Terrace, is open May to September, Wednesday to Sunday: food from mountain, lake and Piedmontese plain, with evening barbecues. The American Bar in the Palazzo, on the Italian-style terrace, completes the picture.

Breakfast is a sweet and savoury buffet with live cooking of eggs and pancakes, from 7 to 10am on weekdays and 8 to 11am at weekends.

The resort arranges private transfers from Malpensa and Linate, chauffeur-driven cars, vintage cars and helicopter transfers with a landing on site. The pool, Dan Garden and Folia Life run May to September.

• A ghost named Barbara. According to the legend told by the castle, Barbara, daughter of Alberto Visconti, fell in love in 1467 with Captain Matteo de Grandis; her spirit is said to wander the tower that bears her name.
• From fortress to the conquest of Milan. The Viscontis, says the website, launched from here the campaign that won them Milan in 1277.
• A hotel before the hotel. Drawing rooms, kitchens, stables and chapel were organised like a grand hotel ahead of its time, with staff, court chefs and carriages.
• Rooms for the ladies. The Superior rooms in the historic walls and tower are each dedicated to a lady of the family.