Antica Tenuta Pegazzera hosts conferences for up to 100 people, and gala dinners and weddings for up to 150 guests, in an early 18th-century villa at Casteggio, in the Oltrepò Pavese hills south of Pavia. Weddings are booked with exclusive use of the villa, and civil ceremonies held on the estate are legally valid.
Seminars and company events
The estate hosts congresses, meetings, conferences and gala dinners, as well as exhibitions of art, sculpture, antiques or jewelry, outdoor concerts, literary evenings and small theatre performances. The conference room is on the first floor of the villa and holds 100 people, with a bar close by. A microphone, loudspeakers, a video projector and an internet connection are provided. Around the main room, participants can use a library, a billiard room, a small lounge and a long gallery with tables and seating, which work for breakout groups or coffee breaks. Dinners for a larger group move to the three dining halls on the ground floor, and summer aperitifs to the terrace.
Weddings and receptions
The Comune di Casteggio has designated the estate as a seat for civil weddings, so a civil ceremony on site has full legal value. Ceremonies and aperitifs can also take place outdoors, in the courtyard or in the park that looks over the vineyards. The frescoed dining halls seat up to 150 guests, and tables can be set in the courtyard and under the three wings of the portico. The couple has the villa to themselves for the celebration and can spend the whole day on the property. An infinity-edge pool at the far end of the park is used for photographs.
Rooms and capacities
The first-floor conference room holds 100. The three connected dining halls seat 150 together. The courtyard and portico take further tables in good weather. A terrace serves aperitifs, and a shaded rear terrace suits smaller private gatherings. The park includes an Italian garden with roses and a water-lily fountain. The chapel of San Carlo occupies the right wing of the villa.
Catering
The estate does not run its own catering. Organizers bring a banqueting company of their choice, which works from the villa's large equipped kitchen.
History and setting
The Almo Collegio Borromeo of Pavia acquired the property in 1698 from the nobleman Crispino Vitali, seeking hillside land suited to vines, and built the villa between 1703 and 1718 as a summer residence for its students. The college kept it until 1967. An 1879 description shows the villa also ran the farm, with a steward's lodging, cellars, a press, silkworm rooms and granaries. After 1967, the architect Carlo Emilio Aschieri directed a general restoration. In 1993 the present owners added a stone staircase entrance to the gardens, laid out the car park, reorganized the Italian gardens and repaved the courtyard in brick. The double-height chapel, built in the early 1700s and dedicated to San Carlo, keeps a Baroque altar and the Borromeo coat of arms.
Getting there
The estate is at Via Vigorelli 153, Casteggio, in the province of Pavia. It is about 10 minutes by car from the Casteggio motorway exit and about 20 minutes from Pavia. A large private car park sits inside the walls.
