Palazzo del Podestà, Radda in Chianti historical timeline

It was built to house an office that already existed. From the end of the thirteenth century Radda was the seat of a podestà appointed by the Florentines, and the comunal statute of 1415 confirmed Radda as the capoluogo of the Lega del Chianti. The palace went up in the Quattrocento.

In 1478 it was almost completely destroyed. That was the second Aragonese war: Radda suffered a new occupation and a heavy sack, as did most of the Chianti's strongholds. The palace was rebuilt afterwards, and the first-floor windows date from that repair.

The office outlasted the wars. The Lega del Chianti survived the end of the struggles between Florence and Siena, turned into a plain administrative division, and ran on until Pietro Leopoldo suppressed it in 1774, dividing it into the three comuni that exist today. For four of those centuries its Capitano sat in this building.

The eighteenth century added a storey and a gaol. The second floor and the prisons were made then — a change of function written into the fabric.

And in 1865 it became the town hall, which it remains. The square outside is named for Francesco Ferrucci, podestà in 1527, whose arms are under the loggia.

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