A review of Best Monastery Hotels.
The claustral life appeals to something deep inside us all.
We yearn for a monastic lifestyle away from everyday trivial endeavours. We want to live like a holy person. But eat and drink really well and lavishly and be treated like a god. And be able to get our nails done or back rubbed in a spa and slouch around in a fluffy toga rather than a hassock.
And stay in a suite. Not a cell.
That is why so many monasteries have been turned into all en-suite staycation destinations.
It’s easy to take a vow of silence , be contemplative and relax if you have Carrera marble vanity units and slow-poached mountain egg with cannellini beans cream, fresh spinach and black truffle linguine with turnip greens and clams as well as vegan and gluten-free options on the menu. And carefully considered and well-curated wine pairings served in Murano glassware.
Every monastery should be too austere not to have a sommelier.
Or, at least, a mixologist.
A ten minute pilgrimage to St Mark’s Square, Ca’ di Dio ( www.cadidio.com) is a former thirteenth century monastery but -with 14,000 piece chandeliers, textured rugs, unread coffee table books, catwalk scriptures, terrazzo Veneziana floor, terrazzo-style wallpaper, pungent signature fragrances by Merchant of Venice, all the Molteni and Co , Murano and Ribelli stuff, the mottled aqua, smoked mirrors, the soft edges, Urquiola interiors, minibars and well-stocked Alchemia bar serving tempting “chichetti” (Venetian tapas ), is not as spartan as it once was.
Palacaio Nazarenes, Peru
On the edge of Arsenale in Castill , the 66-room, four-storey hotels offers the attainment of the Dolce Vita and a calming refuge from the city’s hordes of fiendish selfie camera stick salesmen and off-key gondoliers.
Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore and sometimes the Dolomite can be seen from your rooftop ‘altana’ suite. Lagoon-facing, fine-dining is in Raimondo Squeo’s Vero (a contraction of ‘Venetian Roots’) executive chef Raimondo Squeo’s kitchen. Breakfast is taken alfresco in the courtyard.
Head gardener Gabriele Bisetto will even proudly introduce you to his flat-bottomed boat and take you foraging for your supper around Torcello. Without a hint of an aria.
To stay there is an opportunity no one can renounce. The only vows you will take will be to eat a little less and forsake the sandals.
Ca di Dio’s lobby is the old chapel. A former place of contemplation and convalescence, Antwerp’s August Hotel belonged to sisters and now has five-star status, four restaurants and a vast eco spa. Its old chapel is now the bar and lounge.
British architect John Pawson converted Tel Aviv’s The Jaffa, filling it with Damien Hirst paintings and golden ‘Botolo’ chairs by Cini Boeri under stained-glass windows
Other “exclusive” luxury hotels which are former religious residences include Prague’s Augustine, Florence’s Belmond Villa San Michele( formerlyly a 15th-century Franciscan monastery in the Fiesole hills) and Belmond’s Palacio Nazarenas, Cusco, Peru.
Chateau Cordeillan-Bages is a member of Relais & Chateaux and is housed in an old Carthusian monastery. Convento do Espinheiro in Evora, Portugal and Milan’s Four Seasons are former nunneries.
San Clemente Palace Kempinski Venice and the Benedictine Belmond Splendido, Portofino have religious pasts. Many places of worldly renunciation now have jacuzzis, Hammans, heated swimming pools, same day laundry and turn down services, “sensorial showers, gastronomic tasting menus and serve high-priced afternoon tea.
Ca Di Dio Hotel, Venice
But it’s not all high-end hospitality.
Inside Jerusalem’s Old City and near the Damascus Gate, the Ecce Home Convent overlooks the Dome of the Rock. For 30 hours of work a week, you can stay for free.
There are many religious orders who put up guests for nominal fees. These include Mount Athos’s monasteries and Caldey Island’s St Philomena spiritual retreat guesthouse in south Wales and the one at Pluscarden Abbey in Moray, Scotland.
The Kopan Monastery near Kathmandu,Nepal and Gandhi’s first ashram in Ahmedabad are all open to paying guests.
Www.MonasteryStays.com’s portfolio comprises 500 properties operated by religious orders throughout Italy. In Rome, you can stay at Casa di Accoglienza “Paolo VI”, run by the Piccole Suore della Sacra Famiglia, or the Little Sisters of the Sacred Family.
Another converted convent Clarisse in Trastevere, offers wrought-iron bed frames, terra-cotta flooring, and barrel ceilings.
V Retreats 642 Donna Camilla Savelli Hotel has rose windows, original wooden ceilings and marble bathrooms
Rome’s Kolbe hotel dates back to 1625, A “historical accommodation house,” the Domus Sessoriana claims to be the only hotel in the world to be located within an archaeological complex —the Amphitheatre Castrens.
Eremo della Transfigurazione in Spello, Umbria, lets guests “take part in the monks’ life and help with their toils” while Santuario di Oropa, in Oropa, Piedmont, boasts luxurious rooms complete with antique paintings and furniture and Baroque, Rococo and Ottocento architecture.
It was a religious retreat for the Savoy royal family. Asceticism is not obligatory. Sybaritism has relaced austerity. Guests enjoy Alpine raclette, chocolate fondue, soft Toma Biellese cheese, Ratafia liqueur, homemade Mucroncino chocolates and canestrelli. www.santuariodioropa.it
Pope John Paul I summer holiday at Weissenstein (also known as Santuario Madonna di Pietralba) in Trentino Alto Adige. Allegedly, the Virgin appeared to an ill local farmer, Leonardo Weißensteiner, cured him and instructed him to build a chapel where the faithful could worship. Lay men and women can’t stay inside the Weissenstein but are welcome at the Albergo Pietralba opposite. Ut has a bar and a restaurant. www.wiessenstein.it
Tuscany’s Monte Oliveto has its town agriturismo (www.monteolivetomaggiore). It.
Certosa
The 13-room X11-eme siècle Abbaye de Maizieres in Beaune is a boutique hotel. ww.hotelabbayedemaiziweres.com
In 1878, Robert Louis Stevenson stayed in the Abbey of Our Lady of the Snows ( Abbaye Notre-Dame Des Neiges near Nice, while writing Travels with a Donkey.
Originally built in the late 17th century, the clifftop Santa Sroa in Amalfi is named after Sister Rosa Pandolfi. It became a hotel in 1924.
The medieval Castel Monastero in Siena is a member of The Leading Hotels Of The World. Hotel Certosa Di Maggiano , also in Siena, is a former Carthusian built in 1314 and is now famous for its gourmet restaurant.
The world’s uber-ultra monastic hostelry was and soon will be again the Couvent Des Minimes in Provence-Luberon. It is due to reopen after refurbishment. Its past cannot be changed. But its’ L’Occitane Spa and acclaimed Le Cloistre restaurant have been updated.
