Tour the Italian Villas Featured on Food Network's 'Ciao House'

Ciao House, a Food Network show hosted by longtime star Alex Guarnaschelli and Italian-born chef Gabriele Bertaccini, pits 10 up-and-coming chefs against each other in an elimination-style cooking competition set on location in beautiful Italy. The location plays such a big role — from the dishes the chefs are asked to make, to the ingredients and style they cook with — that you might even say that Italy is the third host of the show.

Gabriele, better known as Chef Gabe, grew up in Tuscany, Italy, and started cooking in professional kitchens at the age of 13. He worked his way up, eventually landing in Los Angeles, where he caught the eye of television producers. Since then, he has competed, won, judged and hosted dozens of Food Network shows such as Beat Bobby Flay, 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing and Alex vs. America, where he went toe-to-toe against his co-host and fellow Italian chef Alex.

In advance of filming Season 1 of Ciao House, Gabe travels to Tuscany, which also happens to be his hometown, to appear on a special episode of House Hunters International. His mission is to find the perfect Tuscan villa to house the 10 competitors and to provide the perfect set for the show’s production.

The villa needs to have a minimum of 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms to provide privacy for the contestants who will sleep, work and compete under the same roof. At the same time, Gabe wants the common spaces to feel communal and open, encouraging the contestants to bond "la familia" (family) style during the course of production.

Naturally, the most important room in the villa is the kitchen. It needs to be both modern enough to meet the demands of a challenging cooking show and spacious enough to fit the contestants and camera crew. This is a difficult ask when touring centuries-old villas in the Tuscan countryside, but luckily, when Gabe tours Castello del Monsignore, he finds exactly what he’s looking for.

The stunning 10-bedroom, 10-bathroom villa sits on 20 acres and has over 25,000 square feet of space. “This feels like it could be a showstopper for Ciao House,” Gabe says admiringly as he takes his first look around.

While the villa’s dining room space is a bit smaller than Gabe is looking for, one look at the charming antique kitchen and it’s a done deal. Not only does he think it will easily fit the contestants and camera crew, but he also loves that Castello del Monsignore has a camino, or fireplace, right inside the kitchen. This will make it easy to introduce traditional, open-flame Tuscan cooking to the contestants.

Upstairs, Gabe tours the castle's bedrooms, not expecting such lavish accommodations in the nearly 600-year-old home. “If I put the chefs here, they might never want to leave!” he jokes.

Outside, the villa is just as breathtaking. There’s a huge pool, a vegetable garden, a lemon house (a centuries-old greenhouse that protects citrus from frost) and even an area to forage for truffles. “It will be almost impossible for the chefs not to be inspired by such a beautiful location,” Gabe says with finality.

Ciao House is going coastal! The Mediterranean Coast, that is. This time, Gabe travels to the region of Puglia, which is commonly referred to as "the boot" of Italy. Puglia is known for its miles of beautiful coastline, delicious fresh seafood and coastal-inspired dishes.

Puglia homes have a very different style from those in Tuscany. Here, instead of castles, there are more masserias, or traditional farmhouses, that locals have been restoring and turning into boutique resorts. Gabe loves the idea of finding the perfect farmhouse for Season 2, where the competing chefs can really lean into the farm-to-table way of life for their challenges.

When Gabe steps through the walled entrance of this 16th-century masseria, he is stunned. It is like walking through a different portal. While the outside of the walls may lack curb appeal, once inside, you are transported to a storybook setting that is exactly what Gabe is looking for.

The home has 10 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms, plenty of space for the cast and crew, but as with the chosen home in Tuscany, it will all come down to the cooking space. Happily, Gabe is in luck because not only does this home have a traditional outdoor pizza oven, it also has a massive and completely modern kitchen that will work great for the show.

Gabe continues to be impressed, reverting to his native Italian when seeing the spacious living and dining rooms. “Va benne, va benne,” he smiles, telling the real estate agent, “all right, all right!” as he pictures the contestants mingling in the wide, open common rooms.

Next, Gabe checks out what will be the contestants' sleeping spaces. “This is really beautiful … and all of the stone is from the local area,” he notices while eyeing the beautiful vessel sinks in one of the many en-suite bathrooms.