Long and deep is the history of Chianti, not yet written entirely nor completely told.His name, for some historians, evokes the beating of wings, the clamor of shouts and sounds of ancient horn hunted boar. For others, would be derived from the Etruscan word Clante.
The felling of forests and the planting of vines are commonly attributed to the Etruscan people who was the first inhabitant of Tuscany: many discoveries of tombs in these areas is carried out in past and recent ages.
We are up here, in a place of ancient Etruscan League, which was the organization centre of traffic from the mines of the Island of Elba and directed, to the north, towards ancient Fiesole, up to the valleys of Comacchio and the Etruscan city of Spina and south, once reached Arezzo and Val Tiberina to Rome and Naples.
The later periods see the overlapping of a Roman settlement here, as attested by numerous archaeological and place-names which remained over time.In the Dark Ages, the domination of the Lombards came. They settled permanently in these districts after the occupation of Italy by the Franks. The people of Chianti today, as the whole of Tuscany, to some extent may be said to be descendants of the Etruscans, and the Lombards.
At the end of the Xth century, the area was affected by a dispute between the bishops of Arezzo and Siena for the possession of some territories. The town of Florence took part too in the dispute, starting a controversy that grew due to the split into factions of Guelphs and Ghibellines, and caused serious grief in later centuries.
Downstream of Chianti, just discoste from its slopes, two bloody battles between the armies of Florence (Guelph) and Siena (Ghibelline) took place: one in Montaperti (1260), the other in Colle Val d'Elsa (1269). In recent times, this territory fell under the rule of the Medici family of Florence and of LorenAS, which ensured a long season of peace to those populations. In this period, the Chianti begins to be known and celebrated for the quality of its main product: the wine. It is an unstoppable fame, since the middle of this century, perhaps even because of the events and transformations occurring in the agricultural sector, growing larger and spread from Italy throughout the world.
In recent decades, to the fame acquired by the wine, was added the fame of olive oil produced in Chianti.
Chianti Shire is a wonderful land, thanks to the environment and the long work of ingentilimento accomplished by many landowners and many land workers. The beauty of this campaign, once covered with woods and now of vineyards and olive trees, may seem the result of a serendipitous: at a closer look, however, it is the result of a brilliant weave of cultures, of individual taste and a unique insight.
The hills are dotted with castles, once grim mansions built in defense of the roads and now transformed into elegant residences of gentlemen.
And incastellate towers, converted into farms, Romanesque churches and, most isolated, great abbeys where always and today culture houses.
You will find many, many cypress trees - Tuscans friend - lining avenues and streets and enclosing gardens.
Chianti is also the source of many rivers that branch off from here and go down into the valleys, in every direction: the Pesa, the Ema, the Greve, the Ambra, the Staggia, the Arbia, and the Ombrone and finally, the Elsa that going west, with a wide circle, designates an area of great vineyards and "Residences" hotel frequented and appreciated by a high quality tourism.
