Castello Banfi wedding

Banfi is one of the great Brunello estates, and at the middle of it stands a medieval castle above Sant’Angelo Scalo, south-west of Montalcino.

Its oldest wing goes back to the thirteenth century. Beside it the old village has been restored into Il Borgo, a relais of fourteen suites, with courtyards and gardens between the stone walls, a glass museum, an enoteca and two restaurants. The vineyards run out in every direction to the horizon.

La Sala dei Grappoli holds a Michelin Star, reconfirmed in the 2026 guide, under chef Domenico Francone.

The hotel holds a Michelin Key and is a member of Relais & Châteaux, so the wedding dinner here is cooked by a starred kitchen rather than a caterer in a tent.

A Castello Banfi wedding moves around the castle with the day: the ceremony in a garden, the aperitif in a courtyard, dinner on the terrace below the walls, and the dancing back inside the courtyards until two.

The terrace in front of the castle walls, looking out over the hills, seating 100 to 110 on round tables or at two imperial tables. We prefer it for every Castello Banfi wedding dinner the weather allows.

La Piazzetta, in front of La Taverna, seats 110 outdoors and suits a welcome pizza party or a farewell brunch. The Second Courtyard seats 90 for dinner or holds a symbolic ceremony. The First Courtyard seats 50 and carries the after-dinner party.

Il Giardino della Fontana faces the vineyards and holds the ceremony and the aperitif. Il Giardino di Bacco carries a smaller ceremony or the cake, and it is where guests stand for the fireworks. Il Roseto, the white rose garden, takes the welcome drink before the ceremony.

The Sala del Capitano, in the thirteenth-century wing, is the rain plan for dinner: 120 on round tables across two rooms, or 52 at a single imperial table. The Sala del Teatro on the floor above carries the cake and the party if the night turns wet.

La Taverna seats 50, or 36 at one long table, and Sala degli Amici 36, both right for a rehearsal dinner. The Glass Museum holds an indoor ceremony or the aperitif buffet, opening onto the Second Courtyard.

A Castello Banfi wedding starts from €200,000, and for optimal results we recommend budgeting €300,000 all-in for 80 to 120 guests.

The whole property, by the night, from €19,000 to €28,000 depending on the month. Two nights is the minimum, and three in May and September.

The fourteen suites with breakfast, the gardens and courtyards of the castle, and both restaurants, La Taverna and La Sala dei Grappoli, kept for the wedding alone. The heated pool and the gym come with the suites. The Enoteca stays open to the public through the day.

Two of the events are served by Banfi’s own staff, and the wedding dinner is chosen from the menu of La Sala dei Grappoli: €250 a head for four courses or €270 for five, with the wine pairing and the cake inside it. The aperitif runs from €90 to €110 a head with finger food and a glass of sparkling wine.

The open bar is €50 a head an hour, for three hours at least, and a midnight snack €40.

For the other evenings the kitchen does a pizza party at €150 a head, a Tuscan dinner at €180, a barbecue at €200 and a brunch at €120, all with the drinks on top.

The flowers, the music, the lighting, the photography, the fireworks, the Collupino farmhouse and the hotels for every guest the suites cannot sleep.

Music at Castello Banfi runs until two in the morning, outdoors or indoors.

That is the reward for taking the whole hotel: with no other guests in the suites, the dancing can stay in the courtyard under the sky rather than move inside at midnight, as it does at most Tuscan estates. Live music carries SIAE royalties and a noise permit, and we file both before the date.

Castello Banfi has fourteen suites, sleeping 35, and the buyout takes every one of them.

Two Suite Riserva, three Suite Classic, seven Junior Suites and two Deluxe Riserva, each with the estate’s own wines, coffee and tea. The Collupino farmhouse, two kilometres from the castle, adds twelve more across four apartments with breakfast laid in and a heated infinity pool of its own.

Forty-seven beds is the families and the wedding party, not the guest list. A wedding of 110 puts most of its guests in Montalcino, twenty minutes up the hill, and we block those rooms early, because a September weekend brings the harvest and its own visitors.

The civil ceremony belongs to Montalcino’s town hall, and a religious ceremony to one of its parish churches.

At the castle the ceremony is symbolic, with or without a celebrant, in a courtyard or a garden, or in the Glass Museum if it rains. We hold the civil ceremony in town in the morning with the couple, the witnesses and the parents, and keep the ceremony everyone attends at the castle in the afternoon.

The castle is at Sant’Angelo Scalo, in the comune of Montalcino, in the province of Siena.

Siena is an hour and five and Montalcino twenty minutes up the hill.

Florence Peretola is two hours and 11 minutes by road, Perugia two hours and 13, Pisa two hours and 26 and Rome Fiumicino three hours and nine.

Rome is the arrival we name on most invitations for this corner of Tuscany. It takes direct long-haul flights, the drive north is motorway almost the whole way, and it is barely an hour longer than Florence.

The buyout decides the shape of the weekend, and the starred kitchen decides the dinner.

Two nights, two events, so use both.

The buyout comes with two food-and-drink events served by Banfi’s staff. We put the second one to work as a welcome pizza party in La Piazzetta or a farewell brunch, rather than leave the first night empty.

Above 52, the indoor dinner is round tables.

The Sala del Capitano seats 120 on rounds but only 52 at one imperial table. If the design is a long table on the terrace, we plan the rain version on round tables from the first drawing.

The suites go first.

Fourteen suites decide who is still at the castle at two in the morning. We allocate them to the families and the wedding party before the rest of the accommodation is planned, and give Collupino to a group with its own cars.

The Enoteca stays open.

The wine shop keeps its public hours during a buyout, so we place the ceremony and the photographs away from its door until half past seven.

Magic Day plans weddings at Castello Banfi from the first conversation to the final farewell, for 35 guests who all sleep at the castle or for 120 with the dinner under the walls. The estate provides the castle, its fourteen suites, its two restaurants and a starred kitchen, taken whole for two or three nights.

That leaves the design of the weekend, the flowers, the music and its permits, the lighting, the civil ceremony in Montalcino, and the hotels and transfers for everyone the suites cannot hold with the planner. We know how Castello Banfi runs: the two events inside the buyout, the rain plan that seats 52 at a long table and 120 on rounds, the two o’clock finish that comes with the whole hotel, and the Montalcino rooms that go early in harvest season.

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