Relais l'Antico Convento

We held our wedding at Relais L’Antico Convento. While the venue is located in a beautifully scenic and peaceful area, our overall experience — both with the venue management and with the wedding planner Aruna Santwan (recommended by the venue) — was extremely disappointing and unnecessarily stressful. From the beginning, communication with the venue manager, Antonietta Buffo, was difficult and uncooperative. Her default response to our ideas or requests was “no,” often with no further explanation beyond a dismissive “because.” Instead of being treated as valued clients, we felt like an inconvenience. We were charged for minor things — including extra toilet paper for guests — which felt petty and unprofessional. To make matters worse, she copied our and our guests’ ID documents in clear violation of EU data protection regulations (GDPR). We were also told we could have music until 1:00 a.m., only to be told at 12:30 a.m. to turn the volume down. Our experience with the wedding planner, Aruna Santwan, was equally disappointing. Throughout the entire planning process, I felt highly stressed. Whenever I asked her for a more specific contract or clarity on how services would be delivered, I was repeatedly brushed off with vague reassurances like, “We are professionals, we know what we’re doing.” These statements were never backed by detailed information or transparent planning. This left us feeling unsupported, uninformed, and anxious leading up to the wedding. She also failed to advocate for us when it came to managing vendors and our budget. Although we clearly communicated a flower budget of around €2,000 to both Aruna and the florist, we received a quotation close to €4,000 with no effort to adjust or suggest alternatives. She only recommended one catering company, limiting our options. Most importantly, she failed to communicate key logistical details — for example, that once the catering team left at midnight, they would also remove chairs, tables, tablecloths, and expensive floral decorations. Guests were told to stand up in the middle of the party while everything was cleared around them — an extremely awkward and disappointing moment. Another serious failure was regarding the gazebo for our ceremony. Due to a sun allergy, it was agreed with both Aruna and the florist that it would be covered. On the day, it wasn’t. I was exposed to strong sun throughout the ceremony, cried from discomfort, and had my makeup ruined. We also had confusion around the sound equipment rental. We never signed any contract or agreed to terms — only received a quote. But when we reduced the rental from two days to one (due to venue restrictions), we were suddenly informed of a €100 cancellation fee, which had never been disclosed. During the wedding day, Aruna was largely disengaged — often sitting rather than actively coordinating or ensuring everything was running smoothly. Despite the natural beauty of the location, our wedding experience was overshadowed by poo

We stayed as attending a wedding at a neighbouring property. It was an extremely hot week and the lack of aircon did make it more difficult. I am not saying this as a criticism as it was an old convent but should be aware. There is nothing in walking distance so a car is an absolute must. It had a lovely swimming pool and must say that Antonietta was a great host and unbelievably contactable throughout the lead up and stay. We paid a deposit pre pandemic and this was honoured after 3 postponements so great service. Due to its construction and wanting to keep it authentic the buildings are not very friendly to very young children so have to keep constant eye on them but it is a beautiful setting none the less. Would recommend

We first visited Relais L’antico Convento in 2019 on a hunt for the perfect wedding venue. Arranging everything ourselves from the slightly cooler climes of Scotland, we’d started our search with a view to marrying in Tuscany; visiting countless villas across the region (including a good few of the ‘conveyor belt’ options, where one wedding party needs to leave before 11am to allow the next one to enter). However, a late-night Google threw light on Umbria – and helped us find this special medieval convent in the Apennine Mountains. We visited to get a feel and instantly fell in love with the setting, building and space. The right balance between stylish and rustic, it met our brief perfectly - allowing us to host most of our 28 guests as well as our reception itself. However, we knew it was the one when the manager, Antonietta, nailed one simple question we asked each venue – where we should eat after our tour. It might sound like a small ask, but it helped us show who really got the brief and who didn’t. Over the next three years (it was meant to be two, but we all know what happened in 2020 and 2021…), the Relais became a home away from home. Antonietta helped us recruit our wedding planner, Aruna, and the two of them became good friends to us, as well as the key drivers of our special day – sourcing the very best suppliers including catering, flowers, wine, lighting, transport, sound, hair and make-up. We visited in peak season, out of season, and rainy seasons during planning – and had the same beautiful experience. By the time the big day, in July 2022, came around, we’d truly found a home. We booked out the entire Relais for five days around the wedding; with 24 of our 28 guests staying with us. Our ceremony was in Montone, a short drive away. For our reception, we’d planned for a long table dinner in the beautiful Relais courtyard to soak the July sun in all its glory. In irony Alanais Morisette could only dream of, we had rain on the wedding day (as the Italians say sposa bagata, sposa forunata) but the ‘plan b’ we thought we’d never need came into action without a hitch. The Relais quickly adjusted, and we were able to host our reception under the covered terrace of the owner’s cottage, keeping us safe from any downpours while still in the middle of the beautiful hills that surrounded us. In fact, plan b ended up working even better than our original – leaving the courtyard free as a dance floor later on that evening. We had the perfect wedding, and our only regret is that it can’t happen all over again. Antonietta and Aruna are now good friends and the Relais is our home away from home. If you want a venue that connects with nature, is truly unique and, most importantly, values your big day as much as you – the Relais should be your first choice. Whether you want to host the wedding from start to finish; to use it for your reception and a base for all your guests to stay for a few days (like us); or something completely di

We had the best time in this venue and can honestly say we have never stayed on such stunning surroundings. The accommodation was superb and Antonietta could not do enough for us. She even helped me with a query when we were back home - it took her time and effort and she really didn’t have to. I always say never go back, but this fantastic place will most definitely see me return.

This was a fabulous place excellent facilities and everything provided very clean and tidy beautiful countryside nice size pool.only drawback was locks ancient and hard to get key out plys very remote so need a car

Beautiful location, private, great staff. Lovely pool.