Gelso Bianco Country Resort

Nice hotel and restaurant

Gelso Bianco—where luxury meets laid-back charm, and the showers could double as alien technology. We stayed in not one, but two rooms. First, the lovely Luisa: charming, cozy, and home to the shower that NASA may want back. You’d better be ready for an instructional lesson here. My husband adored it, happily playing intergalactic shower pilot while I watched him experiment with buttons and levers, possibly trying to communicate with Mars. Then there’s Gelso—the room. Let’s just say, Luisa is cute, but Gelso is her fabulous, more spacious older sister. The bathtub in Gelso? Not saying it’s what lured us there, but it didn’t hurt. Now, on to the real star: the food! Upon arrival we mentioned about being hungry and the owner surprised us with snacks and a refreshing lack of culinary ego: “I don’t know how to cook, but I know where everything is in the kitchen.” And they know how to stock the kitchen for dinner, because everything that came out of that kitchen was, in a word, fantastic. Special shoutout to Mario—the young server on his path to becoming a sommelier. This guy is a walking encyclopedia of wine, which he charmingly used to get us tipsy by the first half of dinner (we asked for it). His passion for wine made our tastebuds (and heads) buzz with excitement. If you’re looking for a countryside escape with quirky charm, unforgettable food, and a young sommelier who could make a glass of water feel like a tasting experience, Gelso Bianco Country Resort is the spot. Just bring your sense of adventure (and maybe a manual for that shower).