A thousand year old farm

The first cultivations around the farm of Rocca di Castagnoli date back to the Etruscan period. Instead, the historic and cultural roots of the village of Castagnoli are embedded in the high Middle Ages: a series of documents of the register of Coltibuono marks the sale of a farm, with wine and olive growing, in 940 A.D. under the domain of Otto IV.

Three centuries later, in 1203, Castagnoli becomes pat of the Florentine territory in the Lega del Chianti, under the municipality of Gaiole. These years are decidedly riotous: what today appears as a peaceful serene haven, was once an area of harsh and cruel battles.

During the Aragonese war of 1478-79, the hamlet was besieged by the Sienese. The fortress resists and later, following the fall of Siena, it becomes part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. A period of peace begins: the villa and the surrounding estates fall into the successive ownership of the illustrious families of Orlandi, Piccolomini, Tempi and Ricasoli, who dedicate themselves with great energy to the care of the vines and wine and oil production.

In the eighteenth century, under the guidance of the Tempi family, Castagnoli is one of the most celebrated estates of the area, as is testified by the compliments of the Grand duke Pietro Leopoldo who, in 1773, on a visit to the Chianti area, boasts its illuminated management, underlining the excellent state of the farms and the excellent living conditions of the farmers.
At the end of the nineteenth century, with the extinction of the Tempi family, Castagnoli passes to the Ricasoli. In 1924 the Rocca di Castagnoli farm, together with the most celebrated farms of the area, founds the Consortium of the Classic Chianti wine.

Naturally, much has changed since then: since 1981, the year in which the current ownership settled in, important restoration work has been carried out on the villa and the fortress. Many modern working criteria have also been introduced in the vines and cellar. A modern wine-making cellar has been designed and built, while the cellars of the famous medieval fortress have been used to age wine in wood.