Panzano in Chianti Culture

Panzano gave its name to an anonymous painter. In the pieve di San Leolino hangs a Madonna and Child with Saints Catherine, Peter and Paul which Bernard Berenson attributed to an unidentified hand close to Barna da Siena and Bartolo di Fredi, datable to the end of the fourteenth century. The hand has been called the Maestro di Panzano ever since.

The village has its own saint, and he is shared with exactly one other place. Sant'Eufrosino, a Cappadocian, was among the evangelisers of the Chianti, and only two places in the territory are dedicated to him: the oratory at Panzano and the Commenda di Sant'Eufrosino at Volpaia, in Radda in Chianti. Tradition holds that he died near Panzano and that the oratory marks his burial; pilgrimage here was tied to the cult of a spring with healing powers, the Fontino. In 1852 an association was founded to spread his cult with printed images and intercessory prayers.

A religious community publishes books out of the parish church. The Comunità di San Leolino, born in Florence in 1986 and living in the pieve since 1997, runs the Edizioni Feeria imprint and the review Feeria, and since December 2017 also oversees the Certosa di Firenze. Its yearly programme at Panzano includes a Festival di cultura umanistica, a Festa degli Artisti and the Concerto di Ferragosto.

Oriana Fallaci wrote the oratory into a novel. The oratorio di Sant'Eufrosino is described by the Florentine journalist and writer in her posthumous Un cappello pieno di ciliege.

And the modern culture of the place is meat and wine. Dario Cecchini, the butcher Visit Tuscany calls "the celebrated butcher-bard known worldwide as the poet of steak", works here; Vino al Vino fills Piazza Bucciarelli on the third weekend of September.

Verified against Wikipedia, October 2026.

← Back to Panzano in Chianti overview

Sources & verification Covers the sourced claims on this page.

Checked against Wikipedia — The pieve di San Leolino conserves numerous works of art. The oldest is a slab of sandstone, perhaps to be considered a pluteo, used as the support of the altar table, decorated in depressed relief with a cross of grooved interlaced ribbons and whorls, datable between the eighth and the ninth century. Among the paintings are a Madonna enthroned between Saints Peter and Paul with stories of their lives, a dossale of the thirteenth century attributed to Meliore di Jacopo; a Madonna enthroned with the Child and two angels, a triptych attributed to Mariotto di Nardo at the high altar; a Madonna and Child with Saints Catherine, Peter and Paul, another triptych attributed by Bernard Berenson to the Maestro di Panzano, a painter close to Barna da Siena and Bartolo di Fredi and datable to the end of the fourteenth century; and a Baptism of Christ, a fresco referred to Raffaellino del Garbo, much repainted in the nineteenth century. Among the sculptural works are two glazed terracotta tabernacles ascribable to the workshop of Giovanni della Robbia, commissioned by Leonardo Buonafede, and an eighteenth-century plaster reliquary bust of Sant'Eufrosino once belonging to the oratory of that saint., Sant'Eufrosino, originally from Cappadocia, was one of the evangelisers of the Chianti, so much so that two places of worship dedicated to him were built in the Chianti territory: this one and the Commenda di Sant'Eufrosino at Volpaia in the comune of Radda in Chianti. Tradition holds that he met his death near Panzano and that an oratory was built on the place of his burial, a goal of pilgrimages tied to the cult of a spring endowed with thaumaturgic powers, the Fontino di Sant'Eufrosino. The first notice of the oratory comes in a bull of 11 March 1102 from Paschal II to Giovanni, bishop of Fiesole. In 1852 an association was born whose purpose was the diffusion of the cult of Sant'Eufrosino with printed images of the saint accompanied by prayers of intercession., The oratory of Sant'Eufrosino was described by the Florentine journalist and writer Oriana Fallaci in her posthumous novel Un cappello pieno di ciliege. (October 2026).
Checked against Comunità di San Leolino — The Comunità di San Leolino was born in Florence in 1986 and has lived in the Pieve di San Leolino at Panzano in Chianti, in the diocese of Fiesole, since 1997; since December 2017 it has also overseen the Certosa di Firenze. Its address is Via S. Leolino 1, 50022 Panzano in Chianti (Firenze), and it publishes the email info@sanleolino.org and no telephone number. (October 2026).
Checked against Visit Tuscany (Toscana Promozione Turistica) — Visit Tuscany places Panzano in Chianti a few miles from Greve in Chianti, "exactly halfway between Florence and Siena", with the Conca d'Oro the valley that opens up at the foot of the village as "a mosaic of rows of vines, olive groves and woods"; it records the Panzano Castle as documented since the 11th century, still retaining large sections of the medieval walls after the damage of the Battle of Montaperti in 1260, and the Church of Santa Maria in Panzano as rebuilt in the 19th century on an earlier medieval church, holding a fourteenth-century Madonna and Child and an Annunciation attributed to Michele Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio. It names the Parish Church of San Leolino as one of the oldest churches in Chianti, and Dario Cecchini as "the celebrated butcher-bard known worldwide as the poet of steak"., Panzano in Chianti holds the wine festival Vino al Vino on the third weekend in September at Piazza Bucciarelli, and a spring edition, Vino al Vino in Cantina, held in the cellars. (October 2026).