Casa Cornacchi wedding

Casa Cornacchi began in the late 1500s as a lookout tower above the Val d’Ambra, the valley that runs down from Chianti between Siena and Arezzo.

The tower and the stone houses that grew around it have been restored as a village of villas, each with its own name, set in olive groves, vineyards and woods. The estate makes its own wine and its own olive oil, and most of what the kitchen cooks comes from its farm.

It has hosted weddings since 2003, more than sixteen hundred of them.

A Casa Cornacchi wedding moves through the estate in a single evening: vows on a terrace above the valley, the aperitivo by the pool, dinner in the square or the garden, and the dancing under cover.

The estate’s signature ceremony place, an open-air terrace among the old stone buildings, high above the valley. This is where we set the ceremony when the guest list is long.

A corridor of century-old olive trees and cypresses, with the hills opening behind. It is kept for ceremonies only, and we use it for a smaller wedding.

A secluded panoramic terrace beside the infinity pool, for the ceremony or the cocktail hour before dinner.

The open plaza between the villas, with terracotta paths and ancient stone walls, and the heart of the estate. It takes the ceremony, the aperitivo or round tables for dinner under the sky, and it is where we put a large Casa Cornacchi wedding dinner.

The upper terrace in front of the breakfast hall, facing the hills and the sunset, laid with one long table or rounds for dinner.

A covered terrace of fifteen metres by five, its glass walls opening or closing with the weather and the valley beyond them. It holds the band and the dance floor.

A half-moon terrace inside a ring of cypresses, with a wood-fired oven and a fireplace at the far end, for the welcome pizza or the barbecue. The Greenhouse is a small glass room for the cake or a late bar of rum, chocolate and cigars.

The estate’s dining hall seats 120, the full guest list, so dinner moves indoors in one room if the weather turns. The Bellavista terrace closes its glass walls and keeps the band and the dance floor dry. We make the call on the morning of the wedding and set both spaces in time.

A Casa Cornacchi wedding starts from €150,000, and for optimal results we recommend budgeting €250,000 all-in for 60 to 100 guests.

The whole estate for two to four nights, from just under €24,000 to just over €41,000 with VAT included, depending on the season and the length of the stay. April and October are priced lower than May to September.

All 25 rooms with breakfast, the gardens and grounds, the pools, the parking, the utilities and the estate’s standard equipment for the ceremony and the meals. The tourist tax and the SIAE music licence, about €300, sit on top.

The all-inclusive package is €215 a head with a meat menu and €235 with meat and fish, covering the cocktail hour, the wedding meal, unlimited house wine and a three-hour open bar, for a minimum of 40 guests.

Bought separately, the wedding dinner of two first courses, a main and a pastry buffet is €110 a head, the cocktail hour €50 or €70 and the open bar €40. A pizza party is €47 a head, a pasta night €55, a barbecue €65 and a brunch €40.

The music stops at one in the morning.

That is set to comply with local regulations. With the estate’s approval the party can run to two, if it moves to one of the indoor spaces and the extra staff are paid for, and nothing carries on outside after that.

We plan the night around it: dinner in the square, the dancing on the Bellavista terrace, and the last hour indoors with the doors closed.

Sixty guests in twenty-five rooms, and ninety-three with the off-site villas.

The rooms are doubles and triples spread through the estate’s named villas, from family rooms to junior, deluxe and prestige suites, several with their own kitchens and terraces. Breakfast runs from eight to ten and is included.

Off-site villas about ten minutes away are rented separately, with transport to the estate included. Check-in is at three, though the wedding party can arrive from noon for lunch at the bistro, and check-out is at ten.

The estate is in the Val d’Ambra, in the comune of Bucine, in the province of Arezzo, between Chianti and the Valdarno.

Siena is 39 minutes and Florence city centre an hour and 19.

Florence Peretola airport is an hour and 29 by road and Perugia an hour and 33. Rome Fiumicino is three hours and nine, Bologna two hours and 17 and Pisa two hours and 31.

For guests from outside Europe we prefer Rome or Bologna for the flights, and the estate’s central position makes Siena and Arezzo easy mornings out during the stay.

One food figure, the estate’s own wine, and a one o’clock finish.

Take the package.

At €215 a head the package covers the aperitivo, the dinner, unlimited house wine and three hours of open bar. Bought separately, the aperitivo, dinner and bar come to €200 before a glass of wine is poured, and the house wine starts at €15. So we take the package almost every time.

The wine is the estate’s.

Casa Cornacchi makes its own wine, and the wedding drinks it. A couple with a producer in mind pays €12 a bottle corkage, wine only, and no other drink comes in from outside.

Forty is the floor.

Every meal is charged on at least 40 guests, whoever comes. For a wedding near that number we build the welcome and farewell evenings from the pizza court and the pool rather than going off the estate.

Use the planning stay.

Once the date is booked, the estate offers the couple two nights between November and March, with a tasting. We meet them there and walk the ceremony, the dinner and the rain plan on the ground.

Magic Day plans weddings at Casa Cornacchi from the first conversation to the final farewell, for 40 guests or for 120. The estate provides the rooms, the breakfasts, the kitchen and the bar for the length of the stay, and leaves the rest of the wedding to the planner: the civil ceremony with the comune of Bucine, the flowers, the photographer, the band and the DJ, the lighting, the transfers from Florence or Rome, and the off-site villas for the guests the estate cannot sleep.

What we know from working the estate is the shape of its night. Vows on the Stone Walk, dinner in the square, the dancing under the Bellavista roof, and the move indoors at one when the extra hour has been bought. We also know the meals are charged on 40 whoever comes, and that the wine is the estate’s.

Tell us the dates you are considering and how many people are coming, and we will tell you what the nights come to.