I must have this castle!

[Dinner]

Check out the photos on this site. Talk about a unique American home.

http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/

The multimillionaire owner wanted to own a castle on his Napa Valley vineyard so he spent 14 years and tens of millions of dollars having a castle built using traditional medieval methods and architectural styles. The castle itself is basically just his home while a separate building, stylized after a medieval monastery, is where the actual wine making occurs and where they press their own estate olive oil. God damn it, I want, I want, I want. :desire:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castello_di_Amorosa

The original medieval style artwork in the great hall is pretty damn kick ass too. Look at the one piece oak beams supporting the ceiling as well. That **** must have been expensive as ****.

[The Mad Monk]

STORM THE WALLS! FIRST MAN TO SEIZE THE BATTLEMENTS IS A BARON!!!

[Hauldren Collider]

So, this is the kind of needless consumption I think Jaguar would like to shift taxes towards :P

[Dinner]

Needless? Why you could survive the zombie apocalypse in that thing and just think of all the booze you could store in the seven acres of underground wine cellars. Heaven is what I call it.

[SlowwHand]

Too much. It's impressive, but wouldn't be for me, no matter my worth.

[Hauldren Collider]

Needless? Why you could survive the zombie apocalypse in that thing and just think of all the booze you could store in the seven acres of underground wine cellars. Heaven is what I call it.

Why not just buy an uninhabited Pacific island?

[SlowwHand]

There you go.

[Sir Og]

Is this an actual castle built of stone or is it built using some modern method with a siding that imitates stone?

[pchang]

Actual castle made of stone

[snoopy369]

If he used traditional medieval methods, does that mean he had serfs doing the heavy labor, and threw their bodies into the moat if they died?

[pchang]

illegal immigrants = serfs
stuffed in chippers and used as vineyard fertilizer = threw in the moat

otherwise, everything else was historically accurate.

[Dinner]

Why not just buy an uninhabited Pacific island?

It just wouldn't be as cool.

[Dinner]

Is this an actual castle built of stone or is it built using some modern method with a siding that imitates stone?

He brought in a bunch of stone masons from Italy and guys from Denmark and Austria who specialized in Medieval architecture. He insisted that as much as possible it be built using medieval methods though, this being California, I'm sure the building inspectors insisted on all sorts of modern changes to meet the building code.

[kentonio]

I can understand wanting it to look like a real castle, but making it using traditional methods just sounds retarded. Way to piss away a ton of cash that could have been spent on cool things like heraldic banners and guards in armour.

[Hauldren Collider]

Agreed. Also, I would much rather have a medieval style castle made out of modern building materials such as steel-reinforced concrete. Sturdiness