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HISTORY OF THE CHIANTI REGION

Not only the battles between Siena and Florence but also the national conflicts devastated the Chianti region during the 15th century but also war and invasions: ALPHONSE OF ARAGON invaded trice the territory to extend his dominion and was also spurred in this by Siena; in 1447 his venture wasn’t very worried, but in 1452 and in 1478 he brought a real devastation (Rencine, Castellina Radda e Brolio were conquered). Only in 1483 Florence succeeded in keeping back a big part of the Chianti territory.

This is also the period in which FAMOUS PERSONAGES lived in Chianti: in 1480 was born Giovanni da Verrazzano, he was the navigator who in 1524 discovered the New York Bay and the mouth of the Hudson; also Amerigo Vespucci was born in Montefioralle; 1503 Leonardo started in Vignamaggio with painting the Monnalisa; in 1513 Niccolò Machiavelli retired into his house in Sant’Andrea in Percussina and there wrote “il Principe”; Galileo Galilei had inherited a farm in Chianti and liked his wine; Michelangelo Buonarroti - who was familiar with the region because he probably had inspected it for Florence - during the old age bought through his nephew houses and farms there; Francesco Ferrucci – before defending Florence – had been podestà of Radda. The history of the human events intertwists the history of wine: Francesco Redi celebrated it in “Bacco in Toscana”, Michelangelo presented it to the Pope.

The war joined with the dearth in 1527 and Chianti kneeled down among the incursions of imperial’s and Sienese’s forces until 1554, as the Duke Cosimo declared war upon Siena and France. After the battles of Aiola and San Giusmè the sienese Republic felt definitively and the whole Chianti region – as Tuscany – felt into the hands of Medici (PEACE OF CHATEAU CAMBRÉSIS); “History, as any Sienese tell you, ended in 1557 – that is, when the Emperor handed Siena and its territory over the House of Medici. (…) For, after four centuries of stalwart resistance, the proud old commonwealth was finally thrust under the thumb of its hated rivals. Trough it would be more correct to say that both Siena and Florence had fallen victims to the Medici machinations…” R. Flower; Fortresses changed into country-houses and farms, in which the people of Chianti started again to devote theirself with passion to their land, of which they knew the quality of a wine, that was defined as a very good one also from the French, as Caterina de’ Medici brought it to them as a present. ‘6oo was called the Chianti Wine’s century.

WINE has always been the entre point of the Chianti economy. In 1634 the podestà of Chianti-League issued an edict that forbade to billet the wine to let the price raise and in 1716 the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo the 3rd - for the first time in the world - established with an edict the boundaries of the Chianti wine’s production zone: “From Spedaluzzo until Greve; from there to Panzano, the whole territory of the Podesteria di Radda, it means Radda, Gaiole and Castellina, arriving until the boundary of the State of Siena”.

1774 was an important year because the old Leagues were abolished and surrendered the Community of Castellina, Gaiole and Radda, expression of the local autonomy.

Hencefort to have out of account the wars, Chianti had a period of quiet, during which the people devoted themself completely to the production of the famous “red”.
A Key-character to understand Chianti history during the ‘800 is the Baron Ricasoli, the “Baron of iron”, the owner of Brolio Castle; he made a big change not only in his own farm but also in the wine panorama of his time: he tried to control the working process and proposed a different grapes’ dosage.

As the phylloxera epidemic swept over the French wine market, this brought a new interest for the Chianti: during this period wine of different origin was bottled as Chianti, so that on the 14th May 1924 a group of producers in Chianti assembled at Radda in Chianti to establish a voluntary association to defend and promote their authentic wine. They adopted the name “Consorzio per la difesa del vino tipico del Chianti” (Consortium for the defense of the typical wine of Chianti and its brand name of origin) and now it’s known as the “Consorzio del Marchio Storico-Chianti Classico”. In 1932 the Chianti region was delimitated in 73.043 hectares.

The summer of 1944 brought the war to Chianti and the Germans took possession of the medieval fortresses. The partisans organised themself in a group called “monte amiata”: of interest is the attitude of the Chianti farmers, who received and gave shelter to the partisans, the Hebrews and militaries.

In the ’50 years the agriculture system passed through a very serious crisis, the farmers left the country for the city and the farms’ owners had to take the very expensive paid labour.
In the same time rose the FOREIGNS’ INTEREST for an elegant region, far away from the noise of the city: precursor and supported of this love for Chianti were Mara Scotoni and her husband; they bought in 1947 Ricavo, a big farm used during the war as shelter for the Hebrews,

they restored and made it comfortable and invited there many friends from Swiss, until one day because of an incident with the car, the lady remained alone and changed the farm into a pension, so that she could kept on living there, because she wouldn’t been alone. The guest of Scotoni’s house felt in love for Chianti and started to buy and restore farms in the region; vines were replanted and most of them devoted themself to the viticulture and the region changed deeply again: the farmhouses changed into agriturisms and holiday homes, and turned not exactly back to what they had been in the past – country houses for aristocrats – but something like that: the farmhouses became placed chosen for the spirit’s regeneration from the new rich people, intellectuals, artists and from everyone, who was – and is – in search of a place of quite, far away from the city’s noise.

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