“Look, I am a countryman, and can you imagine in what corner of the earth, under what sky, I feel truly in a state of bliss? This place is called Vignamaggio from the wines of Bacchus and the month of the year when nature is in full bloom. It is surrounded on all sides by magnificent vineyards and this lovely spot in spring deserved this name”. So wrote Valerio Chimentelli in a letter addressed to Alessandro Strozzi. This definition of being a countryman reveals a sense of pride and a privileged status expressed in a state of bliss. What Chimentelli wants to say is that the height of this sensation, reserved only to those who can enjoy the favors of nature and the countryside can be reached in this very spot, in Vignamaggio, in this stately villa where slightly less than two centuries before, probably in 1497, a baby girl destined by the stars to become the most notorious and admired feminine face of all times, Monna Lisa or ‘La Gioconda’ came into the world. This mystic figure seems to have lived her earthly life between Florence and her blrthplace in the Chianti, without any real tragedies, until her death in 1533, certainly not realizing how much the portrait she had commissioned from the young Master Leonardo was destined to appeal to the popular imagination of future centuries. Who knows if those enigmatic eyes and that mysterious smile really belonged to her?
The villa, now considered one of the finest examples of the Florentine Renaissance in the Chianti, shows the best of itself on the rear facade, in a dark pink plaster, typical of the Tuscan countryside. This rear facade looks onto an enchanting large park, planned and realized with enthusiasm by the former owner, the writer Bino Sanminiatelli, in ancient Italian landscape gardening traditions.

A Baptistry of the imagination: Sant’ Appiano

There is nothing sumptuous or unusually spiritual about it. However it stirs the emotions and a somewhat mysterious atmosphere pervades. The romantic church of Sant’ Appiano built on the former ruins of a Roman structure does not capture our attention through seduction, even if most of the interior with a nave and two aisles divided by rustic cotto columns still reveals elements that are mainly original. Nevertheless the most appealing feature is the erect and isolated columns in front of the facade which have grown pink and scaly with time. It is all that remains of the 7th to 8th century BC showing the Romanesque influence of Ravenna.
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See also:

Farmhouses in Chianti, Montefienali: The Return from Oblivion, Castle of Meleto, Brolio Castle, or ‘dei Firidolfi Ricasoli’, The Church of San Polo

or go back to Houses of Chianti