Itinerary 1From the southernmost point of Gaiole, take the road crossing the stream leading to Barbischio, a picturesque village with houses huddled around an old tower at the summit of a hill. The remains of the castle, which dates back to 1010, have been lovingly restored according to current modern principles of reconstruction.
Turning back towards Gaiole, the SS 480 road will take you towards the Valdarno and the A1 Florence-Rome motorway. After about 5 km of woody countryside, you reach the Badia a Coltibuono crossroads at the summit. A right turn takes you to the Cancelli tower, a beautiful stone building, originally almost certainly an outpost for Montegrossi, whose tower, however, is an imposing ruin which could well be made the symbol of the ancient Chianti. As a matter of fact it dominates the municipalities of the old ”Lega del Chianti” – Gaiole, Radda and Castellina. Montegrossi, first mentioned in 1007 as Poggio Rodolfo, belonged to the children of Rodolfo, whose descendants then became the Firidolfi and Ricasoli families.
Today Montegrossi consists of the village and this very tall, gradually crumbling stone tower.
Turning left at the crossroads and then immediately taking the road to the right, you will reach the Abbey of Coltibuono, a splendid ancient building immersed in a wood of predominantly fir trees and pines. Its origins can be traced to before the year 1000, and the earliest existing documentation refers to a small church, an oratory, which was restored and transformed into an abbey in 1037, when it was donated to the Vallombrosan monks, a religious order established to purge the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the scourge of corruption then rampant. The abbey prospered and grew, thanks to further gifts of land and flour mills. However, in 1810, under Napoleonic rule, the property was expropriated, the monks evicted and the monastery was sold at auction. Today the abbey is an important agricultural estate.
A series of well-defined, imposing buildings of undoubted interest remain, dominated by the powerful bell tower. A trace is left of the original fortifications of the abbey in the form of just a few large buttressed walls. The church and the abbey are open to visitors.
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Official Site of the Tourist Information Offices of
Castellina in Chianti,
Gaiole in Chianti and
Radda in Chianti.
Last change: 24. 04. 2008
