Panzano in Chianti historical timeline

History

The oldest evidence here has been lost. The area of Panzano was already inhabited in Etruscan times, as a stele of the sixth to fifth century BC found near the pieve di San Leolino showed — a stele afterwards dispersed. In the Roman period the area was densely settled, and numerous traces remain in the place names, Panzano among them.

The church is named before the village is. At the beginning of the tenth century the Pieve di San Leolino a Flacciano is cited — Flacciano later becoming Panzano — and the pieve is recorded from 982 in a parchment of the abbey of Passignano. The first record of the name Panzano comes in the twelfth century, in the phrase plebe Sancti Leolini sitam in Panzano, and the thirteenth-century tithes also cite the church of Santa Maria standing inside the castle.

The castle was Firidolfi, and older than its first mention. It had certainly developed before the twelfth century and was among the possessions of the Firidolfi — the same family that held Meleto in Gaiole — who at Panzano were also called da Panzano.

It belonged to the Val di Greve, not to the Lega del Chianti. When the Florentine contado was organised into leagues in the mid-thirteenth century, Panzano fell within the Lega della Val di Greve. This matters: the three terzieri of the Lega del Chianti were Radda, Gaiole and Castellina, and Panzano was never one of them.

Then it was sacked twice in a century and a half. After the battle of Montaperti in 1260 the castle was plundered and two of its towers destroyed by the victorious Ghibelline troops. In 1397, during the war between Florence and the Visconti of Milan, Panzano was occupied and sacked again, by the troops of Alberico da Barbiano.

In 1478 it became Florence's command post. During the war of the Pazzi, Sienese troops and their allies — the forces of Ferdinand I of Aragon, king of Naples — invaded the Chianti for the second time. Panzano's castle was one of the most important bulwarks defending the Republic of Florence, so much so that it became the seat of the Commissario della Repubblica.

After that, nothing for four centuries. Following the fall of the Republic of Siena in 1555, Panzano was not caught up in warfare again until 1944.

The castle changed hands in the nineteenth century and left private hands in the twentieth. Built and always owned by the Firidolfi or da Panzano — a family that, some authors hold, gave its name to Florence's Via Panzani after moving into the city — in the mid-nineteenth century it passed, partly by succession and partly by repurchase, from the Conti Mancini to the Buoninsegni, later Tadini Buoninsegni, who held it until the second half of the twentieth century.

Verified against Wikipedia, October 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — The area of Panzano was already inhabited in Etruscan times, as shown by the discovery near the pieve di San Leolino of a stele dating to the sixth to fifth century BC, a stele afterwards dispersed; in the Roman period too the area was densely inhabited, and numerous traces of that period remain in the place names, among them Panzano itself., At the beginning of the tenth century the Pieve di San Leolino a Flacciano is cited, Flacciano later becoming Panzano; the first record of the name Panzano is of the twelfth century, in the phrase plebe Sancti Leolini sitam in Panzano, while the thirteenth-century tithes also cite the church of Santa Maria placed inside the castle., The pieve di San Leolino is a Catholic place of worship at Panzano in Chianti, a frazione of Greve in Chianti in the province of Florence, diocese of Fiesole; it is recorded from 982 under the name of San Leolino a Flacciano in a parchment of the abbey of Passignano, though two sculptural fragments conserved inside suggest the church has an origin older still. The present building goes back to the twelfth century, as can be deduced from its structural and stylistic characteristics. In the medieval period the church had great importance and fourteen suffragan churches depended on it, among them the one inside the castle of Panzano. In 1508 the patronage of the church passed to the Florentine hospital of Santa Maria Nuova., The castle of Panzano had certainly developed before the twelfth century and was among the possessions of the Firidolfi family; it was built and always owned by the Firidolfi or da Panzano, who according to some authors gave their name to Florence's present Via Panzani after moving into the city, and in the mid-nineteenth century it passed partly by succession and partly by repurchase from the Conti Mancini to the Buoninsegni family, later Tadini Buoninsegni, to whom it belonged until the second half of the twentieth century., In the mid-thirteenth century, when the Florentine contado was organised into leagues, Panzano was included in the Lega della Val di Greve., After the battle of Montaperti in 1260 the castle of Panzano was sacked and had two towers destroyed by the victorious Ghibelline troops; during the war that set Florence against the Visconti of Milan, Panzano was occupied and sacked again in 1397 by the troops of Alberico da Barbiano., In 1478 during the war of the Pazzi, the Sienese troops and their allies the troops of the king of Naples Ferdinand I of Aragon invaded the Chianti for the second time; on that occasion the castle of Panzano was one of the most important bulwarks in defence of the Republic of Florence, so much so that it became the seat of the Commissario della Repubblica. After the fall of the Republic of Siena in 1555, Panzano was not involved in warlike events again until 1944. (October 2026).