The story of Tenuta Borgo Santa Cecilia begins with a countercurrent choice. Giuseppe Onorato and Serena Sebastiani, a Roman couple with professional backgrounds entirely unrelated to agriculture or tourism, decided in 2009 to leave the city to give shape to an ambitious project: to restore life and meaning to an abandoned place immersed in the nature of the Umbrian Apennines.
During a journey through the countryside between Gubbio and Montelovesco, they came across an ancient 19th-century rural hamlet surrounded by over 320 hectares of woods, fields, and pastures. A fascinating yet dilapidated place, which to most would have seemed irrecoverable. For Giuseppe and Serena, however, it marked the beginning of a new entrepreneurial vision: uniting hospitality, agriculture, livestock, environmental protection, and cuisine in a coherent and sustainable ecosystem.
Over the years, through conservative restorations, targeted agricultural choices, and a network of collaborations with local professionals, the hamlet returned to life. Thus emerged a low-impact resort with only five suites designed to offer intimate and private experiences. Around it, an estate managed according to organic farming principles, where cereals, legumes, and forage are cultivated, and pigs and sheep are raised freely, with the goal of creating a truly short and traceable supply chain.
Meanwhile, Onorato Salumi also took shape, the project dedicated to enhancing meats and game, the result of responsible management of local fauna. Alongside it, a restaurant entrusted to Chef Serena Sebastiani, where cuisine begins with raw materials produced on-site to explore new expressions of the territory, balancing tradition, research, and seasonality.
In 2024, Giuseppe and Serena established the first hub for promoting wild game culture in the gastronomic world, together with Fondazione UNA and Cibo Selvaggio. It is the natural continuation of an entrepreneurial journey not driven by marketing but by a concrete vision: restoring centrality to the land, giving value to time, and offering guests a sincere experience where nature and comfort coexist harmoniously.
Today, Tenuta Borgo Santa Cecilia is the result of an independent project built step by step, in which every detail— from room furnishings to the slicing of cured meats—expresses a precise idea of hospitality, of territory, and of the future.
