Carnival in the snow

" First of all the 5 out of 5 for this review is wrong; it should read SIX out of 5. This hotel goes ABOVE all expectations and delights all guests with originality, attention to detail, and a high standard in ALL things. My room (211) was 3-times the size it needed to be, with a nice sofa and sitting area, desk, lovely balcony, and excellent shower room with toilet and bidet. All kept tidy and clean by good housekeepers. You won't find a fridge or tea-making equipment, but I don't mark it down for those things because many hotels don't have these. I always take my own kettle secretly anyway. The heating (over Christmas) was excellent, WiFi worked very well indeed for numerous devices in every corner of the hotel. The food was truly exquisite! The simplest meal was breakfast, a cold buffet perhaps but ample choice of everything, and it was constantly replenished; Eggs could be cooked to your order. Evening meals were remarkable, full of innovation and experimentation; don't restrict yourself to 'Meat and 2 veg' because the chef here doesn't. Open your mind and then open your mouth to enjoy delights which even if made with familiar ingredients will be served up in unexpected ways. This hotel knows how to do food and their staff know how to cook. But above all this, and probably the biggest reason why I can give this hotel SIX stars is the staff. A very young staff, that itself is remarkable, but this collection of lads and lasses were vivacious, bright, happy, helpful, funny, and worked very hard indeed whether bringing scrambled eggs at breakfast, changing a dish at a meal, or creating cocktails or hot chocolates at the bar. This is both a tribute to the management of this hotel, but also to the spirit of these young characters. Our Christmas at Hotel Castel Pietra was an absolute joy because of the way it was run and because of all the boys and girls that did all the running. Truly EXCELLENT "