La Castellina

HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF “FATTORIA LA CASTELLINA”

The first notice about the proud family called Squarcialupi is of 1015, she was owner of many marquisates in the region and also of many Castles. Not only the courage and the ferocity distinguished the Squarcialupi Family (Scorcialupo e Guidone Squarcialupi) during the several fights between Florence and Siena but also the generous nature: when the religious community of Castellina wanted enlarge his church, the Squarcialupi Family presents them a part of his own land in exchange for to have a mess said in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the souls of his parents dead every year.

The family had important responsibility tasks in the government: during the years the Squarcialupi were elected from the Florentine Republic as general commissary of Castellina. Castellina had a very important strategic position for the fights between Florence and Siena, therefore Florence took very soon possession of it.

In 1397 Alberico da Barbiano succeeded to take and destroyed it, but Florence built it new and more protect in 1400. In this period the Emperor Sigismondo came in Italy; he was for Siena in the war against Florence and during some fights the Hungarians cut the hands to some prisoners.

Arrigo degli Squarcialupi, at the time commissary in Castellina, couldn’t stand such a barbarity and promised revenge. According with Florence, promised to Siena to give her Castellina. The Emperor caught in the snare and promised to the Squarcialupi a lot of possessions and many privileges in exchange for Castellina. But when a lot of Hungarians came into Castellina, they were captured and taken in the prisons. They were made free one by one and to everyone was cut a hand.

In 1452 Antonio di Manfredi Squarcialupi moved to Castellina as general commissary and protect the Florentine Castle making everything he could; he was so bravely that the Florentine republic cancelled his all debts and for a period made for him a discount in the taxes. Also the sons of him were beloved from Castellina and Florence, particularly Antonio who became the most famous pianist of that time.

The last notice about the Squarcialupi is of the year 1554, we know that the family extinguished between 600 and 700 and left great richness and their noble name to the Strozzi-Ugolini Family, who were their direct descendants.

The Squarcialupi Palace is one of the most important structures in Castellina in Chianti. The front of the palace, quite harmonious in its architecture, contains four entrance doors with stone surrounds which accurately frame the eight windows of the first and second floors (square). You can see also the Ugolini family stone carved motifs, which are two ferocious panthers.

The Palace is full of many fireplaces, wonderful rooms and old paintings, but what has made the palace famous are the visits of the Grand Dukes of Toscany Ferdinando the 3rd and Leopoldo the 2nd.

The Familie Strozzi received the Palace and the Winery by inheritance, afterwards it fell first into the Strozzi Families and into the Rosselli Family’s hands, until 1980 as it was bought from the Targioni Family.

The eighty’s weren’t easy years for a wine as the Chianti Classico, that was still bound to an old production code, too far away from the rules of wines considered to be high quality wines (the use of the white grapes and his sourness prevents to make the most of the Sangiovese grapes potentiality).

If the 1984 was a key year for the Chianti Classico thanks to the first version of the DOCG production code, the 1989 was a turning point for the rebirth of the “Fattoria La Castellina”, in this year Monica Targioni and her husband Tommaso Bojola started to attend direct to the Winery. The Tommaso’s degree in agriculture disclosed a very big passion for the viticulture, that blended perfect with the Monica’s passion for the hospitality: from the beginning their engagement showed his results by the “Fattoria La Castellina”.

The winery was just drifting, the old owners had kept on producing wines and oil, but they didn’t care about the renew of the winery. Tommaso and Monica began with the direct sell, they bought new and modern equipments for the cellar, took care of the vineyards and started with a carefully restoration of the premises. In 1994 they completed the restoration of “La Ferrozzola”, an old farmhaus in the green, where lived the winery’s metayers, now it’s a nice agriturismo near the village. In 1996 they completed the restoration of the old Squarcialupi Palace, till that moment used as cellar and now changed in an elegant hotel, where the guests can enjoy a stay in a authentic Tuscany palace. In 1998 the two bought a modern cellar very close to the village, so that the premises of an important architectonic value could be released. In the old palace remained the ageing cellar, because the underground locals are the best place for the barrels and the bottles, that should be sheltered from the changes of temperature and of light. In the released rooms of the palace is nowadays an extended direct sell of the winery’s products, a spirits and oenologic items shop and in 1999 has opened the “Enoteca Antiquaria”.

This embraces the bottles of the Collection Bruni-Scarselli, it means every winery of the Chianti Classico, still exist and existed, for a period of about 100 years. It’s an important and unique historical archives, with the flavours of old wines, that preserve the original characteristics of Chianti Classico (there is a bottle of “Badia a Passignano of 1882, that is written with the hand).

All those structural changes reflect on the quality of the wines, that are produced nowadays by the “Fattoria La Castellina”; the care of the modern agronomical and oenological innovations made possible a constant evolution of the wines, that today take their place among the quality Chianti Classico wines.