About Denise Pardini

My name is Denise Pardini and I am the Restorer, Owner, Manager & Chef of Castello di Sinio, this magnificent 12th fortress. I was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, but my family and I are from Lucca in Tuscany. I am extremely fortunate to have grown up cooking with my Nonna Giulia Bertolani and my Dad, Enrico Pardini, an artisan butcher and great cook. I am grounded in Tuscan cooking but I am also French trained and was part of the Chez Panisse "revolution" in Berkeley, California. My cuisine is a very personal one which respects the Piemontese and Langhe culinary traditions but at the same time subtly & respectfully incorporates other regions & flavors from throughout Italy. The Piemontese cuisine is recognizable but there are also small & exciting surprises. I have a small but very talented staff that assists me, but I am always personally in the kitchen cooking, as well as directing and overseeing everything that we present, both for breakfast and dinner as well as our quite extensive wine list. I believe my kitchen and dining-room staff and I create one of the most unique and satisfying dining experiences here in Le Langhe. The cuisine is typical, but modern and light in its sensibilities and presented with imagination but without pretention in one of the most atmospheric dining rooms in the entire area.

I run the Hotel with a similar approach; I am always front & center working to create a kind of hospitality that is INclusive, where guests feels privileged but at home. My hotel staff is dedicated & caring and follows my lead in demonstrating our commitment to our ideals of Personal Generosity, Harmony and the Art of Living Well. Each of us carries the Soul of the Innkeeper, that passion for the personal touch that is in danger of being lost in our time. I hope that my guests feel that in the many details that we delight in attending to and in the small touches of comfort that we constantly try to add. Restoring, running and caring for a Castle has a centuries old name, a position: it is “The Castellana” - the person who is the Steward, who is in Service to the castle and it’s guests and the hospitality offered. That is who I am.