Castellina in Chianti

Castellina in Chianti perches on a gentle arc of hills, radiating all the sweetness of the Chianti panorama. It first reveals itself to travellers as a series of patrician palazzos, which were built in the construction drives of various soldier-governors: initially these were the cronies of the Guidi counts, who had struck out from their Garfagnana homeland and pushed south into the heart of Tuscany, trying to bend it to their will through diplomacy. Later, the town was part of Florentine territory. Its centre is built around the old citadel, which was designed in the late 1400s by Giuliano da Sangallo. Walking down the via Ferruccio, you can still breathe something of Castellina's medieval atmosphere; and at the end of this street you will find the church of San Salvatore, which was destroyed in the Second World War and rebuilt in a neo-Romanesque style.