Castello di Barberino hosts weddings, corporate dinners, team building days and product launches for up to 200 guests, in a castle and its gardens in Barberino di Mugello, north of Florence. The venue is hired privately and exclusively, with timings agreed with the team.
Seminars and company events
The castle sells corporate lunches and dinners, team building, themed evenings, client events and product presentations. Launches can be staged in the outdoor green theater, aperitifs served in the courtyard of the medieval tower and an open bar set up in the Limonaia. A lunch or dinner can seat 200. The venue provides lighting, audio and video systems, set design, live music or DJ sets and on-site assistance, so an agency can bring its program and rely on the house for the technical side. There are no bedrooms mentioned on site, so groups usually stay in hotels in Mugello or Florence.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings are a main activity. The castle is an official venue for civil ceremonies of the Comune di Barberino di Mugello, and ceremonies can be held in the halls, in the courtyard or in the green theater set in the park. The venue states a maximum of 180 to 200 guests, with seated dinners able to go slightly above 200 and buffets or cocktails laid out indoors and outdoors. Rooms are available for the couple to get ready. The team works with outside planners, photographers, florists and musicians, or coordinates with the suppliers the couple chooses, and can also arrange vintage car hire and photo or video coverage.
Rooms and capacities
Indoors, the castle offers the Salone dei quadri, the Salotto and Salottino, the Veranda, the Limonaia and the cellars. Outdoors, there are the Corte dei cedri, the rose garden, the tower courtyard, the Italian-style park and the green amphitheater. The site gives one overall figure of 180 to 200 guests rather than a capacity for each room, so the layout is settled with the team for each event.
Catering
Catering is offered as an additional service, with menus and setups adapted to the event. The site does not say whether the kitchen is in-house or run by a partner caterer, so it is worth asking when you send the request.
History and setting
The castle traces its origins to around the year 1000, when a Lombard fortified outpost served as a watchtower, and the venue presents it as the oldest castle north of Florence. Lombard officers called capitanei governed it, and the title became the surname of the Cattani family, who held the castle for centuries. It later lost its military role and became the center of a farm estate. The Dapples family, which the venue links to the founding of Nestlé, bought it with other properties. Louis Dapples restored the walls, removed the internal chapel and planted the Italian garden, turning the castle into a country villa. It is protected by the heritage authority. A team has run it as an event venue for several years.
Getting there
The castle stands at Via di Castello 8 in Barberino di Mugello, in the province of Florence, close to the A1 motorway between Florence and Bologna. Florence airport is the nearest airport, and groups usually arrive by coach or car.
