Normally we find our accommodation through the Booking app.  Occasionally, however, the app does not have properties where we need them, so we have to consult other sources and make a phone call.  This isn’t a problem for us in Spain or France, but our Italian is almost nonexistent.  So when we made a recent reservation at Agroturismo Lo Stagno we didn’t quite catch the price quoted.  We ended up at a place a couple of notches above our usual comfortable standard.  It was a serendipitous mistake.

The estate at the Agroturismo was founded at the end of the 14th century by Benedictine monks and named Lo Stagno after the pond on the property. For a period the Jesuits took it over, but as Paola explained, thanks to Napoleon such estates were taken and became privately owned, in this case by her family. As we were shown around the house it was clear they have gone to great lengths to preserve the place as a museum. Everything was still on display in all the rooms including her mother’s fancy satin shoes and her grandfather’s metal water bottle that was secretly filled with wine after he was told he should no longer drink. Paola showed us her parents’ wedding picture and told us that her father told her mother he was marrying her not for her beauty, but for the tax advantages promised by Mussolini for married men. I can’t imagine all the other the stories that were made and told between those walls.

Paola and Mario spent hours with us, walking us through all the suites as well as the attic, the outbuildings and even a garden area a couple of kilometres away.  Everything is on a grand scale, with rooms larger than entire modern condos.  Paola has spent her entire life at the property, and she just wants to share the place with others.

Paola and Mario gave us the first figs and the first cucumbers from their garden, and in all respects were wonderful hosts and raconteurs.

Having left last night’s real palace, tonight in Cremona we are staying in a castle themed apartment, with faux stone walls, torch style lights, and lots of black wrought iron.  Never a dull moment.