When you finally get there, after crossing the countryside from Lecchi to Radda in Chianti, it will be difficult for you to imagine that locked in this powerful fortified structure, built in different periods, partly a fortress and partly a country villa with a lovely covered loggia, is one of the most ancient churches in the Chianti. When consulting books to know more about it, you find that it is sometimes called a country church, in others a castle or even a villa. Actually, like other building complexes, the church-castle of Spaltenna, among those that have undergone the same experience, combines these three different aspects. It is like saying that it has a spiritual soul, the elegant atmosphere inside a rich, noble villa. If you continue to enquire, you will find that the church of San Polo already belonged to the Firidolfi Ricasoli family before 1000 and that in the 13th century, the Florentines had a solid wall built for its defense, which transformed a great deal of its early Romanesque structure. You also get to know that most of the main structure of the building is the result of a 15th century intervention aimed at giving the building that profane and warlike spirit we mentioned before and that the facade of the church was raised so high that it became part of the surrounding walls. The apse was turned into a semicircular tower and the slender bell-tower was widened to the point of taking on the appearance of a sturdy keep.
However, when you enter the church, you realize that the Romanesque elements still exist. The nave and two aisles, divided by solid pillars, end in the beautiful Romanesque apse which has not lost its forms on the inside. Before leaving this composite building, your attention falls on a splendid cycle of 14th century frescos, attributed to the Sienese painters Cristoforo di Bindoccio and Meo di Pero. These frescos have survived all the changes and in the lunettes of the nave, they have told the Stories of the Life of Christ for seven centuries. The last work that draws our attention is the wooden Crucifix, also of the Sienese Trecento by an unknown artist. They are the only two important works of art that have remained from an even more significant collection in the church. Indeed those who wish to complete their ‘visit’ should go to the Pinacoteca of Siena to admire the fine Duecento painting by the Master of San Polo in Rosso, identified by many as Segni di Bonaventura. For many centuries, the Crucifix was a symbol of meditation and prayer for the inhabitants of this contado.
One should also admire some of the wines produced in ‘limited quantities’ by the firm with the same name. The Castelpolo and the Chianti Classico reserves… ‘open the dance’ for the wine-tasting.
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See also:

Farmhouses in Chianti, Monna Lisa’s House, Montefienali: The Return from Oblivion, Castle of Meleto, Brolio Castle, or ‘dei Firidolfi Ricasoli’

or go back to Houses of Chianti