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The Relais la
Fattoria, sitting on a hill near Melfi, overlooking the
Ofanto Valley, is the result of a meticulous restoration
and re-purposing of a 700 year old "factory" and various
outbuildings. The factory is now the main building
for the hotel and the old horse stables have been
transformed into an elegant restaurant.
The location exudes an atmosphere of true serenity and
sweetness and anyone exposed to it will be awestruck.
Perhaps this feeling has been instilled by the
generations that have loved and respected this village.
Perhaps it is because in the last seven hundred years of
existence it has changed owners only once.
Each room has its own character and design. Rustic
furniture of peasant origins is mixed with antique
furniture, prints and paintings. Some, that open
directly to the outdoors give the sense of having a
place of one's own; others have a relaxing view of the
typical Basilicata countryside; yet other look out onto
the complex's quadrangle and face the lodgings the
peasants at one time inhabited.
In addition to the extensive garden maintained and
reserved for the guests' use, the hotel is surrounded by
its own farmlands, vineyards, olive orchards, woods, and
well - cultivated plains of corn wheat and sunflowers,
rendering an ideal environment for walks in the
countryside. All of the rooms offer private baths,
refrigerators, satellite TV, externally accessible
telephones, air conditioning, and ample private parking.
The centuries old, panoramic park overlooked by the
Relais La Fattoria has a special, favourable
microclimate which enables arbutus, ancient olive trees,
to live together as well as many local plants such as
elms, oaks.
All the common rooms, and those in the main body of the
building including the café and the Restaurant Room
where breakfast is served, look out onto the internal
garden, a triumph of flowers and colour.
Once upon a time they were the cellars of the factory,
used for wine making and aging the bottles. Today, after
restoration to the original splendour of decorative
stone and barrel vaulting, these two evocative rooms
host ‘il Cavaliere ’ restaurant – a famous interpreter
of Lucana cuisine which has found a new and prestigious
home at the Relais.
The restaurant offers some traditional lucana dishes and
others, more creative, which are often built around
‘cult’ products of the area, such as truffles, cardoons,
and meat from Basilicata.
Stupendous combinations are suggested with wine from the
restaurant’s well-stocked cellar. Here, in addition to
rare bottles, new emerging labels from small producers -
and not just local ones - can also be tasted. |
