Despite boasting grand Italian architecture, rambling Mediterranean-style gardens and millennia-spanning art and artifacts, the new Allegretto Vineyard Resort in Paso Robles is far from exclusive. In fact, as its visionary Douglas Ayres says, “The Allegretto is for everyone.”
Predicated on the sincere desire to elicit joy in everyone who enters its doors, the Allegretto Vineyard Resort is a 20-acre luxury property in the heart of Paso Robles Wine Country that provides a beautiful meeting space for locals and day visitors as much as it does for guests.
“This resort was built to magnify all of the wonderful things that Paso Robles is already about: history, family, food, wine, beauty, and community,” says General Manager, Anna Olson. “We want the Allegretto to be a touchstone in Paso Robles, hailing back to the days when the local inn was a central social place for a community. We want to see people meeting for a glass of wine here in our sun-soaked piazza, friends having a spa day with cabana service by the pool, and art enthusiasts walking our halls, taking in the sculptures and paintings across the property.”
For locals or day visitors who haven’t yet made a getaway to the elegant Tuscan-style resort to take a peek, Olson offers several more ways “to Allegretto:”
- Dine at Cello Ristorante – Chef Eric Olson, most recently of the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa and Centrally Grown in Cambria, is a master craftsman with many years of worldwide culinary experience. Chef Olson and his team prepare dishes that skew Italian using the finest and freshest locally farmed and foraged ingredients, served beside an extensive international wine list, cocktail menu and several craft beers on tap. Locals are invited to meet at the bar and watch the game on two flat screen TVs, dine on the heated outdoor patio, sip artisanal hot chocolate by the giant outdoor fire bowls, or play a friendly round of bocce ball.
- Tour the Art, Artifacts and Inspired Spaces – The Allegretto Vineyard Resort is home to hundreds of works of art, antiques and artifacts from across the globe and the ages, including a five-foot stone polished to a beautiful sheen after tumbling in a river in India for 5,000 years; a towering Siddartha statue from India; and a massive cross-section from a Sequoia tree whose rings date back to before the building of the Great Wall of China and the birth of Christ. Furthermore, Ayres built several “inspired spaces” into the resort, including the Romeo and Juliet Tunnel, scaled to accommodate a horse and rider, and named after the underground web of tunnels leading to the Arena di Verona, the city in which Shakespeare’s classic story of star-crossed lovers takes place; and the Abbey, a small non-denominational, French-inspired building modeled after the rustic chapels of Europe.
- Indulge in a Spa Day– The spa at the Allegretto is a full-service boutique offering everything from zero-gravity chairs, an infrared detox sauna, massages, facials, manicures/pedicures and body treatments. Additionally, the boutique spa offers a Wellness Program open to the public featuring Chära (a dynamic alternative to yoga exclusive to Allegretto), as well as Barre & Balance, HIIT, and Glow Dance Fitness classes, all held in the French-inspired Abbey. (Find more information about the Spa at Allegretto by visiting SpaAllegretto.com.) Furthermore, visitors to the Spa at Allegretto may stay and make a day of it in a cabana at the Allegretto swimming pool complete with sweeping vineyard views. From the months of June through October, cabana service features a menu from the poolside Café Fontainebleau.
- Relax in the Piazza – At the beating heart of the Allegretto is the Piazza del Magico, a 12-000-square-foot courtyard that takes its architectural cues from several different sources, including the symmetry of Italian villas, Renaissance palaces, and the cloisters of Benedictine monasteries across Europe. Cheerful blue shutters dot the piazza’s interior, overlooking fountains, stone sculptures, and plenty of comfortable settees in which to sit, bundled up by the outdoor fireplace, enjoying a signature hot toddy and soaking in the ambiance.
For more information on how locals can “Allegretto,” please visit AllegrettoVineyardResort.com or call 805.369.2500.