A Dream-Turned-Promise, Realized Through Three Generations

La Promessa is not just a name, but our history.

Decades ago, a father entrusted this land to his son. In that moment, the son made a simple but profound commitment: to protect the property, to care for it, and to keep it in the family for the generations to come.

Over the years, the estate has been restored with love and hard work, each improvement honoring the people who shaped it. The story of La Promessa is the story of family — of staying connected to our roots, preserving what matters, and creating a place where others can feel the warmth of belonging.

When you stay with us, you become part of that story. You share in the legacy, the memories, and the deep respect we have for this land and its history.

La Promessa is our family’s promise, which we now share with you.

The thread of ties that unites Miami to Irpinia in Gino Antoniello's La Promessa

The son of immigrants, he was born in Switzerland and lives in America, but some time ago he had made a commitment to his father: to recover the house and the land in Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, to continue to keep his roots alive. And today his small accommodation business is taking shape, right where he returned every summer as a child: "This province is like a diamond in the rough, I would like to contribute to its growth."

Orticalab | Maria Fioretti

August 19, 2023

Click here for the original publication

---

A village is needed, if only for the sake of going away. A village means not being alone, knowing that in the people, in the plants, in the land there is something of yours, that even when you are not there it remains waiting for you.

---

Whether or not you have read – in full – The Moon and the Bonfires, you will certainly have come across this quote by Cesare Pavese: inflated, of course, but not at all trivial.

Because it takes a country above all to keep its word. And the story of Gino Antoniello brings us a little closer to that of Anguilla, there is America and there is the place of origin, Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi.

International work in the railway industry, his own company, various investments, a life in Miami with his family and a promise. Indeed, The Promise, the one made to his father before he died: he would not sell his house or the land in Irpinia to others. "And in the end I fell in love with this project," Gino tells us, whom we reached on the phone, "in a way that was perhaps even desperate, because following the work, overcoming the geographical distance, was tiring and beautiful at the same time."

Today La Promessa is a country estate, organized in multiple villas open to a Retreat Experience in the inland areas of the South, with a family touch that adds to an already unusual trip to Italy:

"It is an opportunity to look at Campania from a different point of view, through a stay that has no comparison, because it is not standardized or impersonal, rather, it allows guests to immerse themselves in the everyday life of the country, in an incomparable natural setting, with its forests, mountains, waters, cultural sites, authentic food and quality wine. I would not have started this adventure if I did not really think that Irpinia has great potential."

This is the future, in the past there are the roots on which this story – family and business – is based: Gino Antoniello's parents from Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi emigrated to Switzerland and he was born there, who returned to the village every summer. And then from Switzerland to America, as if it were an obligatory route: "My mother and father returned permanently in 1986 and since then I have started to travel more often to reach them. The idea of giving shape to the Promise was born in 2002, after a very emotional conversation with my father, who wondered about the fate of our house when he would no longer be there. I could not transfer everyone to Sant'Angelo, but I felt like committing myself so that that place so dear to him continued to be lived in and cared for. And so it was, when the time came to sell I was the one who bought the entire property, in agreement with my mother, my sister and my brother, because a promise is a promise".

Emigrants, like millions of others in the world: "There is still a prejudice against this word, for me instead it is an honor, it does not take something away from me, on the contrary it adds value to the person I am. Our past is similar to that of many other families, but few have the opportunity to return, to rewrite their history and I thought I would take an important opportunity, not only for me, but also for my daughters who have become fond of this place over time. I hope to be able to water their roots as well and I hope that they will continue this project, but without feeling the weight of sacrifice, so I wanted to make La Promessa a welcoming activity, sustainable and respectful of the context, local culture and traditions».

"Our memories are throughout the structure, there is no stone without ties and memory, which is why it is so special - he continues to tell us - it is a tribute to the previous generations who planted the seed of this dream. The only thing better than having seen my parents walking and relaxing in this place is knowing that the same well-being today will be reserved for our guests, who we hope will be able to experience and share these sensations with us»."

For Gino Antoniello, Irpinia is a diamond in the rough: "Which should shine much more. Unfortunately, however, we go ahead alone, there are no resources and not even public recognition that would be essential to make the province emerge as a tourist destination, to provide it with more services. Instead, there are many skills, talents, skills, passions that I have seen moving, that I meet every time I come back, I see that they try to make it known, that they tell the world about it as the special territory that it is. This gave me the right motivation to leave, I could have invested in something else if I had only thought about business, but La Promessa has deeper foundations that are not limited to profit, they concern the bond with this land that I would like to see grow. It's like a love relationship: it fills your heart, enriches you and makes you continue to build, because every day I think I would like to be there, but not succeeding so often, I thought I could help as I can, creating new relationships and emphasizing the challenge."