Discover Rocca di Castellina in Chianti

The Rocca di Castellina in Chianti is the cassero of the Florentine fortification, standing at the highest point of the town on the main square.

At the beginning of the fifteenth century the Florentines decided to fortify this frontier area, continually subjected to incursions by soldiery, with a circuit of walls and a rocca. Building was entrusted to the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore of Florence, and that body's archive records precisely what was wanted; the dimensions of what stands show the project was carried out meticulously. Construction began in 1401, on the remains of the structures destroyed when the town was successfully besieged in 1397.

It was a working garrison, not a residence. The 1452 siege lasted 44 days and failed; the assault of 1478 succeeded, and the Sienese held the place until 1483.

The comune bought it in the 1920s. It was the seat of the municipio until 2006, when it became the Museo Archeologico del Chianti senese; the comune's council chamber is still inside it.

The type is a cassero — the keep-and-courtyard core of a fortification, as distinct from the wall circuit around the town. It sits at the highest point of the settlement, on the south side, which is precisely the stretch of town wall that has since disappeared entirely.

The composition is tower-first. The rest of the cassero circuit was built up against the tower, so the tower is the organising element and everything else leans on it. The internal court was then divided in two: the stair to the tower in one part, a ricetto for the foot soldiers in the other.

The masonry is the argument for the documentation. Dressed blocks of alberese and sandstone, laid on horizontal courses, with the best-worked stones at the corners and the jambs: a controlled, specified job rather than opportunistic building, which is what the Opera's archive describes and what the dimensions confirm.

What is not fifteenth-century: the merli, the camminamento di ronda, the bertesche angolari and the campaniletto a vela. All 1920s. An imitative restoration of that period aimed at a presumed original appearance rather than at the evidence, which is why the result looks more castle-like than the fortress ever did.

Two attributions to set aside. The Fondazione Musei Senesi calls the fortress progettata da Giuliano da Sangallo, and Visit Tuscany dates the design to the second half of the fifteenth century on the same attribution. Sangallo was born around 1445. He appears in the record of this building twice — reinforcing the fortifications after 1452 and directing the defence in 1478 — and neither is designing it.

This is a documented commission, which is unusual for a provincial fortress. The Florentines resolved to wall and fortify the position; responsibility went to the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, and the Opera's archive records with precision what was to be built. The museum in the building makes the point that the dimensions of what stands show the project was executed meticulously — the fabric matches the paperwork.

Two local stones, used by grade. Alberese, the grey-to-pale-yellow limestone of these hills, and arenaria, sandstone, cut into conci and laid on horizontal courses. The best and best-worked blocks went into the angolate and the stipiti — the corners and the door and window jambs, the two places where a wall is weakest and most visible.

It took decades. Begun in 1401, still being worked on in 1430 when Brunelleschi was sent to specify the interventions and cost them, and finished, probably, around the middle of the century. The 1452 siege was therefore fought behind defences that were, at most, newly complete.

The 1920s campaign was a different kind of building. Egisto Bellini worked in the manner of the restauri imitativi — restoration aimed at recovering a presumed original appearance rather than at conserving the evidence. He added the merlons, a wall-walk completed by corner bertesche, the campaniletto a vela, and inside, the sala del capitano with its fireplace and its marble-fronted washbasin bearing the Tolomei arms.

Reading the two campaigns apart is easy once you know. Plain, massive, well-coursed stone below; everything decorative and castle-shaped above.

Is the castle medieval?

The body of it is: begun 1401, built of alberese and sandstone on horizontal courses, finished around the middle of the century. The crenellations, the wall-walk and the bell-gable are 1920s, added by Egisto Bellini as an imitative restoration.

Did Giuliano da Sangallo design it?

No. Guidebooks say so, but he was born around 1445 and the fortress was begun in 1401. What the record gives him is reinforcing the fortifications after 1452 and directing the defence in 1478.

Can you go up the tower?

Yes — the museum's route ends at the middle wall-walk and the top of the tower. The view reaches the Valdelsa and San Gimignano, the Monti del Chianti and the Pratomagno, and the Amiata and Cetona.

What does it cost?

€9.00 full, €6.50 reduced, €5.00 for groups of fifteen or more, free for several categories including residents and under-sevens.

When is it open?

Daily 10:00–18:00 from April to October. In November, 1 November and weekends only, 10:00–17:00; a handful of December dates at the same hours, and 31 December 10:00–14:00. All year by booking for guided visits.

Is it still the town hall?

Not since 2006, when the museum took it over — but the comune's council chamber is still in the building.

What is the best thing in the museum?

The reconstructed parade chariot from Montecalvario, clad in decorated bronze and iron laminae, whose fittings were unearthed in 1915. The tumulus it came from is half a kilometre out of town.