Rocca di Castellina in Chianti

A medieval Florentine fortress

The Rocca di Castellina in Chianti stands on the main square of the village that preserves a part of the walls that surrounded the ancient town while the two doors, called Florentine and Sienese, have been destroyed. They had an irregular hexagonal pattern.

In the Middle Ages the fortress was a Florentine position in the perennial battle against Siena. In 1397 it was destroyed by the Milanese Gian Galeazzo Visconti who fought alongside the Sienese and was rebuilt by the Florentines who made it impregnable. In 1452 he withstood a 44-day siege. Filippo Brunelleschi had also put his foot on it, to whom we owe the covered walkway of Via delle Volte.

Before then, the place on which the fortress stands had been an Etruscan and then Roman settlement. Climb up to the crenellated tower to enjoy a splendid view from above of the Chianti landscape. Inside the Rocca there is the Archaeological Museum of Chianti Senese that preserves the finds of the territory and tells its long history.