When I met Massimo Bottura in 2017, his three Michelin-starred Osteria Francescana in Modena was riding a wave of international acclaim. Besides appearing on Netflix’s Chef’s Table in 2015, it also topped The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2016 and 2018.
At the time, he spoke animatedly about plans for a boutique guest house in his home city of Modena. Casa Maria Luigia, named after Bottura’s mother, opened in 2019 in the countryside. This once 12-room inn now offers 25 rooms, three restaurants, an event space, and an acetaia housing more than 1,400 barrels of balsamic vinegar. When Michelin’s inaugural Italy selection was announced in 2024, it garnered three Michelin Keys.
“After years dedicated to introducing Modena to the world through Osteria Francescana, we felt the desire to bring both Italian and international guests closer to the Modenese countryside,” says Lara Gilmore, Bottura’s wife and business partner.
“We were fortunate enough to find a property at auction, surrounded by a large, centuries-old park that gave us the space to dream. We filled the house, gardens, and buildings with everything we love most: art, nature, music, and beauty, transforming it into an authentic expression of our passions.”
Scattered throughout Casa Maria Luigia are the couple’s treasured trove of design, art and cars. The artworks are a particular highlight. ‘Frankie’ by Duane Hanson, the security guard sculpture that once greeted guests at the entrance of Osteria Francescana, now guards the country house. In the breezy living room, a 2015 Lego replica of Ai Weiwei’s ‘Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn’ gives another glimpse into the couple’s eclectic collection.
“The house was too small to be called a villa, and it had too few rooms to be called a hotel,” Gilmore says. “We named it Casa Maria Luigi because we wanted to embody a new concept of hospitality with fewer barriers. ‘Casa’ is ‘house’ in English. As we moved forward with the renovation, we committed ourselves to restoring the property to the splendour it once had as a 20th-century farmhouse estate.”
“We never really think of the restaurant and the hotel as separate, but as two different interpretations of the same vision, approach and culture.”
Lara Gilmore, Co-owner, Casa Maria Luigia
Bottura adds, ”Casa is the way every Italian mother welcomes people into her house. My mother Maria Luigia taught me that hospitality is an act of love. A restaurant can offer you an extraordinary experience, and a home can offer you a sense of belonging.”
While Gilmore curated books on art, design and gardening, Bottura took care of the Green Music Room’s 20,000-strong vinyl record collection, which he says includes “an incredible jazz collection”.
FOOD IS PART OF THE APPEAL
Bottura’s food was always going to be the highlight. Inspired by memories of the Christmas breakfast his grandmother Ancela prepared, the breakfast spread at Casa Maria Luigia is proudly Italian and anything but ubiquitous. Think gnocco fritto, frittata, erbazzone, onion frittata, cotechino with zabaglione, and a seasonal selection of caramelised fruits.
However, there is much more to the culinary offerings than breakfast. Guests can enjoy Osteria Francescana signatures at Francescana. There is also the one-Michelin-starred Al Gatto Verde, where Chef Jessica Rosval showcases her acclaimed wood-fired cooking, and the newly opened Cucina Lu that serves seasonal wood-fired lunches.
Throughout the property, hospitality takes many forms, from complimentary parmigiano reggiano cheese and lambrusco frizzante wine—one of the most iconic, classic marriages in Italian gastronomy—in guestrooms, to a steady supply of house-made snacks like almond milk and tiramisu in the communal kitchen.
After 31 years in the fine-dining business, it is clear that hospitality is deeply embedded in all of Bottura and Gilmore’s ventures. “Our restaurants, non-profits, and now hotel are united by a commitment to caring for people. In the restaurants, we showcase this for a few hours, but at Casa Maria Luigia, it’s much more intimate. We enjoy the opportunity to spend days with guests, deepening our relationship with them,” Gilmore says.
As award-winning restaurateurs at Osteria Francescana, the couple applies everything they’ve learnt over the past three decades to Casa Maria Luigia. The main difference now, Gilmore notes, is the scale of the family, with 300 employees including their daughter, Alex Bottura, who has joined the business.
“Having so many young and inspiring people joining us, we are now teaching, sharing, and redefining what hospitality means to us. We never think of the restaurant and the hotel as separate properties, but as two different interpretations s of the same vision, approach and culture. Both share our passions, our deep love of Italy, and the culture of hospitality that we have created within the Francescana family.”
COOKING FOR THE COMMUNITY
When you spend enough time at Casa Maria Luigia, you realise that it is less a hotel than a portrait of its owners. Every room, garden path, and outbuilding reveals a different facet of Bottura and Gilmore’s interests, from art and music to cars, food and nature.
Asked to name their favourite corners of the estate, their answers provide insights in the personality of the property from the beginning. Gilmore’s is the secluded cabin overlooking the vegetable garden. “The doors are open, and you can hide from the outside world and see the whole park at the same time,” she says.
Bottura, meanwhile, is torn between two spaces. One is the Green Music Room, where guests can explore thousands of his vinyl records. The other is the Playground, a gallery-like space housing motorcycles, cars, and large-scale artworks. “Both express my passions.”
Despite focusing on their commercial projects, they haven’t overlooked an equally important aspect of their lives: their commitment to their community. In 2015, Bottura and Gilmore initiated the first Refettorio, a community kitchen created for the Milan World Expo that repurposed surplus ingredients into nourishing meals for those in need.
Today, there are 12 Refettorios across locations such as Sydney, San Francisco, Mexico, and Modena. Its success led them to establish the non-profit organisation Food for Soul in 2016, expanding the concept into a global network of community dining spaces.
In the same year, they joined forces with Aut Aut Modena, an association that promotes and coordinates educational projects, assistance and fundraising to help families with autistic members, for Tortellante. This initiative encourages young adults with special needs, including their son Charlie, to learn to make tortellini from nonnas (“grandmothers”).
It may be their most personal project yet, but Casa Maria Luigia is built on the same belief that underpins everything they do: hospitality begins with taking care of people.
