Castello Borgia — Attraction in Passignano sul Trasimeno

We found Il Borgia on AirBnB and decided to have a destination wedding here without seeing it in person first. Despite the uncertainty of remote wedding planning, we ended up with the perfect fairytale day. The castle is gorgeous, surrounded by green castle grounds and pool+tennis court on site. We had 47 wedding guests and Julie, who manages the castle, also doubles as expert wedding coordinator. Julie hooked us up with a hair/makeup team and photographer who were dedicated & attentive. She also arranged flowers, music, catering, and shuttle service for our guests who stayed in Perugia. Our ceremony was in back and dinner/reception on the terrace in the front, overlooking Lake Trasimeno and an incredible sunset. I was stressed about weather (forecast called for high chance of rain) but there was only a brief sprinkle in the afternoon and we were able to keep our wedding outdoors. My husband and I missed cocktail hour for photos, but our guests loved the spread. Dinner was amazing, though the 4 course meal was longer than we expected at ~3.5 hours and ended at 9:30pm (though I’m probably biased by my American perspective). For dessert we added on a dessert buffet and gelato bar, which were well received, but the EASY fan favorite was the millefoglie (a classic italian wedding cake) which came with the base catering package.

We also added on 2 hrs of open bar for after dinner dancing, but I think dinner was so long that, disappointingly, many tired guests left on the first shuttle without partaking. Also, as the bride, I had to direct more of the guest flow than I anticipated, but I am not sure if that is due to cultural differences. We didn’t end up renting lights for the dinner area (it wasn’t outright recommended and when we asked, was priced at 700€ which felt steep) but Julie did direct us to a superstore nearby to buy our own string lights to hang. During dinner though, it was still fairly dark once night fell (but there was some light coming from the castle). I do wish we had been advised to get some lit centerpieces.

We also stayed overnight in the castle with a small group of friends in the days before/after the wedding. There are 7 rooms - 6 doubles, 1 single - for 13 total guests. One of the double rooms has two twin beds but the remaining are double beds. Each room is spacious, interesting, and unique, with a large private bathroom to (almost) every room - the single room shares with one of the doubles. The beds are comfortable (on the firm side, which is our preference) and there is excellent water pressure in the showers even upstairs. There is a well-equipped kitchen, a large billiards hall, a breathtaking dining room, an upstairs sitting room with fireplace and a gorgeous view of the lake, multiple other gathering areas both inside and outside the castle, and rooftop access - so, plenty of space to move a wedding indoors in case of inclement weather. There were groundskeepers and housekeepers attending to the castle daily. The pool area was so relaxing and tennis equipment is provided. The water is not potable (but safe to cook with, brush teeth with/shower in, etc). On our arrival, large water bottles were provided in every room and we bought some additional water at grocery stores nearby. There is plenty of parking, and I would recommend renting a car to stay here, especially as the taxi drivers are mostly coming from Perugia and don’t speak much English. Julie was really helpful and called taxis when we needed them, but overall, it wasn’t very convenient to get around without a car.

Of note, this is a PRIVATE VENUE but not clearly listed as such on Google. More than once, random people drove up to the castle hoping to see inside the castle or get some information about it. While that was a little annoying, guests staying in the castle are provided a key to lock the drive gates.

Overall, Castello Borgia was the perfect place for our wedding and I wish we could spend more time at this incredible location. Thank you Julie!

The attached photos are mostly crowdsourced from our...

We had the most amazing wedding, we couldn’t even expect (and we already thought it’s going to be good). To Julie (the wedding planner): she’s the kindest and most sympathetic person we could imagine. The planning with her was absolutely fantastic, we had several phone and video calls to organise the wedding from Germany. We visited her an the castle just a month after getting in touch with her. Julie offered to be our ceremonial speaker and did an amazing job, she even did it in German language. It was fantastic!!! To the castle: beautiful place, nice pool, tennis court, cleaning service everyday, pretty rooms and bathrooms and a big kitchen. For the catering we chose „Sergio Bellina“: as rehearsal dinner we had a „pizza-party“ which was also held at the castle. Giovanni and the staff were phenomenal. All of our guests and us were amazed. Our expectations were even exceeded on our wedding day. We had fantastic Aperitivo wither drinks and antipasti after the ceremony. Later, the dinner consisted of four delicious courses and a traditional wedding-cake. The staff also did a fantastic job on the wedding day (friendly, smart, funny). After the dinner we had a dance-party at the pool, the caterer also did the open bar and offered the drinks we chose in advance. The catering even left us the leftovers (liquor, wine, etc) after they finished service. We had a violinist and a harpist which played music during the ceremony, the Aperitivo and at the dinner. At the finale, the violinist sang an opera song for the bride. We look forward to celebrating our anniversary at the Castello again one day and to seeing Julie again! Best...

Fairy-tale wedding. We chose this venue a year before our wedding and we couldn't be happier. This was the most amazing experience of our live thanks to Julie Palombaro, our wedding planner. She made sure to make all the bookings for services needed according to our taste and specifications. The chef Andrea and Andrei, were superb. They did not seize to amaze our taste buds with two delectable culinary experiences. Not too far behind were the musicians who made sure they played songs we had previously selected, and they made the night even more enchanting. We loved it so much that we are already planning to return for an anniversary. Thank you all that contributed to our...