Chateau Le Prieure Top Hotel in Saumur, Loire

Chateau Le Prieuré is a magnificent hotel facing the Loire river in France. It's quite close the city of Saumur and it's the perfect location for a couple looking for romantic and historic ambiance in Europe. It offers the chance to live like in a castle but with affordable prices that at least once in a life you really deserve. Since last time we came here 18 years occurred and even a change of property, and its final quality improved a lot by then.

Starting from its imperial decorations inspired to Napoleon and his wife Joséphine Chateau Le Prieuré is impressive and very peculiar for the furniture and the ambiance. The bar and the dining room are particularly quaint about all this above.

 

The room was amazing with well refined furnitures, too. This particular one is an historic style suite which will you astonish you. Though with its modern comfort you will never regret your choice.

 

We tested the gourmet dinner as well, but before that we went down in their incredible wine cellars that has been reorganized and updated by the new property which is "La Grande Maison Younan Collection"

After the visit of the wine cellar we have been accommodated at our table with an incredible view of the Loire river, followed by an aperitif with Crémant de La Loire a famous sparkling white wine, very similar to the Champagne. There are several tables facing this view so you can have the chance to book one of it in advance.

Let's talk about the menu of "La Castellane", the restaurant we tested. We have chosen a la carte some of the offered "in season" dishes that are published below with their original menu description, including wines pairing. But before all that we received a couple of  very nice amuse bouche.

Œuf Bio des Deux-Sèvres cuit à 63°, bouillon de carottes et verveine,
salade de petits pois, sésame et citronOrganic egg from the Deux-Sèvres region cooked to 63°,
carrots and verbena broth, sesame seeds, lemon and green peas salad

 

Agneau de France confit lentement, “harissa” de carottes, étuvée de petits pois aux oignons nouveaux
Slow cooked and candied French lamb, “harissa” of carrots, steamed green peas with spring onions

 

Assortiment de fromages affinés du maitre fromager de Louzy
*Assortments of matured cheeses from the master cheese maker in Louzy*

 

 

This was our Top Favorite Wine of the Dinner

Soufflé chaud au Royal Combier, salade d’agrumes et sorbet carotte-orange (Sans gluten)”Hot” Royal Combier soufflé, citrus salad and carrot-orange sorbet*
(Gluten free)

Petite Patisserie

The chef in charge is Richard Prouteau who is the great star of the menu together with the amazing service we received at the table by the dining room team and of course his brigade in the kitchen. The whole gourmet experience was a 20/20 score and also the room was at the top of our expectations

An elegant 12th century castle, with terraces offering an exceptional panoramic view of the Loire below. Everything has been thought of to offer you a most pleasant stay: a gourmet restaurant, a 25 hectare wooded park, as well as mini golf, tennis and basketball courts, all served by attentive staff.

 4-star hotel

 21 Rooms and suites
 A gourmet restaurant: Le Castellane
 A 25-hectare wooded park
 Free, private and secure parking
 Mini-golf, tennis and basketball court
 Working rooms

Le Prieuré

Rue du, Rue Comté de Castellane, 49350 Chênehutte-Trèves-Cunault, France

Phone: +33 2 41 67 90 14

article by Luca Centoni

pictures by Paolo Emilio Centoni

Coletti in Roggio Garfagnana the Hidden Pearl of Tuscany

Gemma and Andrea Coletti

Andrea Coletti and his mom Gemma, of Ristorante "la Capannina" Coletti, are a legend in Roggio, a pretty small but quaint village in that part of Tuscany less known by the majority of the visitors; the Garfagnana. We have been there for decades since we used to live in Tuscany, therefore we knew exactly what to expect from them, They are indeed great workers and all because the happiness of their guests. We arrived in the late afternoon and we found them right where we expected they would have be, in the kitchen of course. They were preparing a delicious dinner for a group of Danish and for us too.

Roggio among the Tuscan mountains of Garfagnana

The sun slowly goes down and we reach our special room. It is like that because e true pope stayed in there in the past centuries. It is nicely decorated with ancient furniture.

In the years the family has builded and expanded its restaurant and rooms in order to let their guests to be more comfortable using this village as an excellent starting point for visit this fantastic area of Tuscany famous for its genuine food, affordable prices, white marbles, berries, cheese, porcini mushrooms , healthy water and more. Not to mention other famous locations to visit around like Lucca, Forte the Marmi, Versilia , Viareggio, Pisa and of course all those quaint villages in between.

Andrea and Gemma have welcomed lots of celebrities as well during the filming of movies in the area. Among them the American actor Harvey Keitel and the singer David Bowie. Also the book writer Karen Brown dedicated them some pages of her charming travel guide to Italy. But the most incredible thing is that some of the people born in this place lived their lives so far away in the world before finally coming back here to enjoy the life quality they might have lost along their path.

The dinner at "la Capannina", as it always been, was so good and genuine because all made with local ingredients of the mountains and prepared personally by Gemma meanwhile Andrea was serving at the tables together with the girls.

Antipasto Variety

Crostini Medley

Deliciousness Plate

Risotto with local Porcini mushrooms

Tordelli (Ravioli with butter and sage)

Necci (chestnut pancakes) with local Ricotta

Sgroppino (lemon sorbet drink) at the end of the dinner

The Coletti's cellar has some of the best super Tuscans labels to be paired with their great food.

Also in the morning they serve a wonderful natural breakfast with all local products, including their home made yoghurt and you just can relax before to get out and discover the magnificent surroundings.

We went to hiking at Campocatino a plateau located at 3300 feet where you can visit the old stone village, once the movie set of the "Il Mio West" ("Gunslinger Revenge") of the Italian director Giovanni Veronesi and starring Leonardo Pieraccioni, Harvey Keitel, David Bowie. You can find there nice berries crostata which will give you energy before to walk, through the forest, to the Eremo of San Viviano (San Viviano Hermitage) a wonderful grotta (later completed as a rocky stone chapel) that undoubtedly will remain lifetime in your memories.

the forest path to the hermitage of St. Viviano

In the evening we came back to our beautiful historic room after a farewell to the mountain that has the shape of a man's head profile.

Andrea Coletti

Andrea Coletti waits for you to let you have a unique Tuscan experience different from the ordinary paths of the traditional travels. Indeed if you want to see how Tuscans people really eat and live, well this is the place you should never miss or...you didn't see Tuscany.

Ristorante Coletti (aka la Capannina)

Address: Via S. Bartolomeo, 7-52, 55030 Roggio LU, Italy

phone: +39 331 805 0069

 

article and pics by Luca Centoni