A California millionaire built a massive '13th-century Italian castle' in the middle of wine country — take a look inside

Melia Robinson/Business Insider

Napa Valley has been called the Disneyland of wine country, with good reason. It's essentially a boozy amusement park for adults, with elite wineries and resorts packed along a highway.

Another reason for the comparison: The region has its own medieval castle.

Nestled in the rolling hills of Castiloga, California, Castello di Amorosa is a world-class winery based out of a replica of a 13th-century Tuscan castle. The owner, Dario Sattui, is a fourth-generation wine-maker and ardent Italophile who spent $40 million to bring a slice of the old country to Napa Valley. At 142,000-square feet, the castle took more than a decade to build.

We recently took a guided tour of Castello di Amorosa. Here's what it was like.

Castello di Amorosa looks like a 13th-century castle in the Italian countryside.

Melia Robinson/Business Insider

And it is — sort of. Owner Dario Sattui once wrote, "Castello di Amorosa appears to be an authentic castle for one reason only. It is an authentic castle, though fancified."

Melia Robinson/Business Insider

Source: Castello di Amorosa

In the early 1990s, Sattui — already an established wine-maker — bought the land with plans to replant a vineyard on the property and build an 8,500-square-foot winery.

Melia Robinson/Business Insider

His fascination with Old World Italian architecture took over and Sattui began to draw up plans for a more grandiose winery. He spent years visiting and studying medieval castles and wineries throughout Italy and Europe, as part of an exhaustive quest for authenticity. Sattui wanted every detail — from the drawbridge to the dungeon — to mimic 13th-century structures.

He hired master builders from five countries to bring his vision to life.

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