Christmas and New Year's Eve at Castello di Velona: the Holidays in the Heart of the Val d'Orcia
From Christmas Eve to the midnight toast, the holidays at Castello di Velona – Terme di Montalcino move at the slow pace of the Tuscan winter: chef-crafted tables, Brunello and thermal water at 36 °C.
There is a moment in December when the Val d’Orcia falls quiet. The hills grow bare, mist rises from the valley floor, and Castello di Velona – Terme di Montalcino lights up on its hilltop.
This is where we will welcome you for the holidays this year: carefully laid tables, the Brunello di Montalcino from our own estate, and thermal water at 36 °C that turns the winter cold into a pleasure. For Christmas in Tuscany, the castle dresses the way the countryside does in winter: evergreen branches, pine cones, warm lights and a few bordeaux velvet bows. Just a few touches, so that the stone, the arches and the light remain the true protagonists.
Christmas Eve
24 December
On Christmas Eve the table looks to the sea, as Italian tradition has it. It opens with sea bass carpaccio, green apple and smoked caviar, followed by a scampi risotto with ginger and finger lime and a Livorno-style salt cod, slowly cooked in olive oil. To close, the Italian Christmas dessert trolley: the pastries of the season, served at the table with their sauces.
€170 per person
Christmas Day Lunch
25 December
Christmas Day lunch brings back the flavours of home: boiled beef with salsa verde and caviar, traditional cappelletti in capon broth, and beef cheek braised in our own Brunello with pear, porcini and coffee. Then a 70% dark chocolate sphere with panettone mousse and warm brandy cream and, to finish, the fireside ritual: roasted chestnuts and Christmas petits fours.
€170 per person
New Year’s Eve at the Castle
31 December
The last night of the year is a celebration at the table. On 31 December, from 7:30 pm until 1 am, our New Year’s Eve in Tuscany opens with an aperitivo buffet where the sea meets Tuscany: French oysters, among them Spéciale Gillardeau, tuna and sea bass carpaccio, hand-carved Tuscan prosciutto DOP, finocchiona and Pecorino di Pienza with fig mostarda.
At 8:30 pm the gala dinner begins: red mullet with fig mostarda, crispy guanciale and white truffle; a fish-filled raviolo in Livorno-style broth; charcoal-grilled risotto with porcini, Pecorino di Pienza and candied citron; seafood parmigiana with red prawn and burrata; a contemporary sfogliatella with sheep’s ricotta. After dinner, artisanal panettone, pandoro, nougat and chocolates, waiting for midnight.
Outside, the hills stay quiet. Inside, the castle stays awake until one in the morning.
€290 per person
Discover the New Year’s Eve menu
The Holidays, Slowly
Between a lunch and a toast there is time for everything else: the thermal pools of OLISPA, fed by our natural spring, a glass of Brunello by the fire, a walk among the vines in the low December light. The castle stays open until 10 January, for those who wish to stretch the holidays all the way to Epiphany.
For information and reservations, our team is happy to help at [email protected] or on +39 0577 839002.