Casa Pancole Holiday Home Chianti Castles and Chianti Castles Route CASA PANCOLE, Località Pancole 161, 52022, Cavriglia (AR), Italy Map coordinates: 43°30'59.2"N 11°30'51.0"E Telephone Number: (+39) 3498419058 - Email: [email protected] - www.casapancole.it Casa Pancole Holiday Home Anyone who has visited the Chianti Castles, even a few hours, remembers them with passion. They are wonderful places, impossible to forget. A real "must" for anyone who wants to visit Chianti and discover its true soul. Castles have always occupied a special place in the collective imagination, full of mystery, romance and poetry. They appear majestic, when you come into contact with them you feel small and magically manage to transport you back in time, thinking of the dark period of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, etc. Visiting one of these ancient buildings means coming into direct contact with the history, culture and legends of Chianti. CASA PANCOLE, Località Pancole 161, 52022, Cavriglia (AR), Italy Map coordinates: 43°30'59.2"N 11°30'51.0"E Telephone Number: (+39) 3498419058 - Email: [email protected] - www.casapancole.it Casa Pancole Holiday Home Brolio Castle – Gaiole in Chianti The Brolio Castle is located in Brolio, near San Regolo, in the municipality of Gaiole in Chianti, in the province of Siena. The toponym "Brolio", deriving from the Celtic (Gallic) term "Brogilo", with its name Oltramontano refers to an era before the thousand when it designated for Broilo or Brolio "a wild estate with a fence reduced to domestic, and in the midst of this is the castle for his lord's house ”. On the other hand, the names that still keep the district around Brolio, such as those of Gaiole, Monte Luco, Avane and Avenano, prove the ancient wild state of Chianti, hunting reserve of the Counts of Berardenga, family of origin salica and the first known owners of Avenano, Monte Luco and Brolio. In 1829 Bettino Ricasoli, just twenty years old, began to personally follow the property of Brolio and throughout his life alternated political commitments with in-depth studies in viticulture. Particular attention placed the "Baron of Iron" on the most suitable grapes for that ideal wine that he wanted to produce on his lands. Various were the grapes cultivated with Brolio, from Pinot to Cabernet, from Grenache to Carignano, but to give the best results for Bettino Ricasoli were undoubtedly the clones of Sangiovese di Brolio, a variety still present today in the vineyards of the company because the following replanting have almost always seen the use of native plant material. This brings us to 1874 CASA PANCOLE, Località Pancole 161, 52022, Cavriglia (AR), Italy Map coordinates: 43°30'59.2"N 11°30'51.0"E Telephone Number: (+39) 3498419058 - Email: [email protected] - www.casapancole.it Casa Pancole Holiday Home when Barone Bettino, after years of research and experimentation, defined the blend for Chianti Classico to which, almost a century later, the production disciplinary of the most famous Italian wine, remained in force up to the present day. Here's how to get to the Castle from Casa Pancole: CASA PANCOLE, Località Pancole 161, 52022, Cavriglia (AR), Italy Map coordinates: 43°30'59.2"N 11°30'51.0"E Telephone Number: (+39) 3498419058 - Email: [email protected] - www.casapancole.it Casa Pancole Holiday Home Meleto Castle – Gaiole in Chianti The first records of Meleto are dated XI century, then possession of the Benedictine monks. Later it became the property of such a "Guardellotto", a member of a local feudal family, to whom Federico I Barbarossa confiscated his possessions and passed them to the Ricasoli-Firidolfi family. From this was born that branch of the family called Firidolfi from Meleto. It is in 1256 that the name "Meleto in Chianti" appears for the first time in the "Book of Estimi" by the Florentine Guelphs as a property of the Firidolfi. The border position, on the edge of the Republics of Siena and Florence, meant that the Castle was the scene of numerous wars between Guelphs and Ghibellines, including the second Aragonese invasion of Chianti in 1478 when it was occupied by enemy troops and during the Medici War, in 1529, when it was besieged by the Sienese militias. Today the castle is no longer owned by the Ricasoli family. It is home to a farm specializing in the production of Chianti Classico wine and can be visited for a fee. Here's how to get to the Castle from Casa Pancole: CASA PANCOLE, Località Pancole 161, 52022, Cavriglia (AR), Italy Map coordinates: 43°30'59.2"N 11°30'51.0"E Telephone Number: (+39) 3498419058 - Email: [email protected] - www.casapancole.it Casa Pancole Holiday Home CASA PANCOLE, Località Pancole 161, 52022, Cavriglia (AR), Italy Map coordinates: 43°30'59.2"N 11°30'51.0"E Telephone Number: (+39) 3498419058 - Email: [email protected] - www.casapancole.it Casa Pancole Holiday Home Verrazzano Castle – Greve in Chianti The Castello di Verrazzano is located just outside the town of Greve in Chianti (Florence). The view is marvelous because it dominates the whole valley (from its 348 meters s.l.m.), and it is possible to admire another wonderful Castle, that of Vicchiomaggio. The Castello di Verrazzano, perhaps born as a guardino in the medieval age (it remains a crenellated thirteenth century tower), was built throughout its structure between the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth. Later, probably on the influence of the Florentine Renaissance, it was transformed into a so-called "noble house", to then become a classic villa with a Tuscan farm in the seventeenth century. On the front of the castle there is still a wonderful Italian garden. In the 7th century the castle became the property of the Florentine family Da Verrazzano and here in 1485 the navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano was born, who discovered the bay of modern New York and most of the east coast of the current United States. In New York is the famous bridge (The Verrazano) suspended between Brooklyn and Staten Island named after him in 1964. The important Florentine family of the Marquises Ridolfi succeeded the Verrazzanos after the death of the last descendant, which occurred in 1819. In CASA PANCOLE, Località Pancole 161, 52022, Cavriglia (AR), Italy Map coordinates: 43°30'59.2"N 11°30'51.0"E Telephone Number: (+39) 3498419058 - Email: [email protected] - www.casapancole.it Casa Pancole Holiday Home the 1920s, thanks to Luigi Ridolfi, the Stadium of Florence was built and in 1926 Fiorentina, the football team, was founded. of the city of Florence. President of the Athletics Association, Ridolfi allowed the Italian team to train at Verrazzano for the 1936 Olympic Games. In 1958 the Cavalier Luigi Cappellini took over the estate now on the way to decline, starting a patient restoration work which, respecting the historical and architectural peculiarities of the place, restored the purity of Castello del Mille's forms to its former glory and rebuilt the agricultural fabric as in the ancient model, replanting the vineyards. For many years, the Castello di Verrazzano has been famous throughout the world for its production of Chianti Classico wine and Extra Virgin Olive Oil DOP. Here's how to get to the Castle from Casa Pancole: CASA PANCOLE, Località Pancole 161, 52022, Cavriglia (AR), Italy Map coordinates: 43°30'59.2"N 11°30'51.0"E Telephone Number: (+39) 3498419058 - Email: [email protected] - www.casapancole.it Casa Pancole Holiday Home Vicchiomaggio Castle – Greve in Chianti The origins of the Vicchiomaggio Castle, initially called Vicchio dei Longobardi, date back to around 1400 as reported on some ancient parchments still preserved today. Its location on top of a hill overlooking the entire Val di Greve - just 18 km from Florence and 38 from Siena - has proved to be a highly strategic position over the centuries. The Vicchiomaggio Castle, built in solid stone whose fulcrum is the high crenellated tower, it preserves around castle dwellings and defensive walls. Thanks to careful and meticulous restoration work, it is now perfectly preserved and has been recognized as a national monument. In the Middle Ages, the Vicchiomaggio Castle demonstrated the decisive importance of its position by playing a fundamental role in the defense of Florence in the conflicts that occurred with Siena. Subsequently it assumed the character of Renaissance noble Villa and reached its maximum splendor. It was during this period that the word Maggio was postponed to the original name Vicchio, in memory of the Mayar of the Calendimaggio. CASA PANCOLE, Località Pancole 161, 52022, Cavriglia (AR), Italy Map coordinates: 43°30'59.2"N 11°30'51.0"E Telephone Number: (+39) 3498419058 - Email: [email protected] - www.casapancole.it Casa Pancole Holiday Home In its long and glorious history, numerous personalities have stayed at Castello Vicchiomaggio, including Leonardo da Vinci and Francesco Redi. The first, who lived there during the period in which he was painting his masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, drew from it a majestic and imposing design that we still find today among his personal papers; the second, an academic from the Crusca, composed here the verses of his work "Il Bacco in Toscana" - 1865. Here's how to get to the Castle from Casa Pancole: CASA PANCOLE, Località Pancole 161, 52022, Cavriglia (AR), Italy Map coordinates: 43°30'59.2"N 11°30'51.0"E Telephone Number: (+39) 3498419058 - Email: [email protected] - www.casapancole.it Casa Pancole Holiday Home Gabbiano Castle – San Casciano Val di Pesa Documents have been found that attest to the presence of wine production and cellars in the Castle of Gabbiano as early as 1124, at that time the castle belonged to one of the most important banker families of Florence, the Bardi, who in the second half of the 1200s began the enlargement works of the fortress building the perimeter walls, embattled, according to the typically Guelph tendency of the time.