On the Track of the Greats Who Lived in the Chianti Region
Giovanni da Verrazzano and the poet Monsignor Giovanni Battista dei Ciampoli, for instance, were born in Greve in Chianti. The former was the great explorer who discovered New York Harbour in 1524: he was born in the castle that bears his name, and in Piazza Matteotti, in the heart of the town, has been erected a statue in his honour. The latter was the counsellor of two Popes and Galileo Galilei`s favourite disciple.
Not to speak of Leonardo da Vinci, who painted one of his most famous works, "La Gioconda", right in the Chianti region. According to some accurate historical studies, Mona Lisa, the beautiful woman portrayed in the painting, lived at Fattoria La Ripa, between Castellina and San Donato in Poggio...
When he was exiled from Florence in 1512, Niccolò Machiavelli - historian, dramatist, politician and philosopher: one of the important representatives of the Italian Renaissance - retreated in Sant`Andrea in Percussina, a small hamlet in the municipality of San Casciano, where he wrote his most famous work: "The Prince".
Charming Grignanello, a farmhouse in the municipality of Castellina in Chianti, belonged to the Galilei family, and it was Galileo Galilei himself who sold it in 1778. The famous scientist liked to spend some time in Casalta di Pesa as well.
The artist Michelangelo Buonarroti, whose nephew had some properties in Chianti, was certainly very familiar with this region.
According to some scholars, even the great navigator Amerigo Vespucci, after whom the Americas were named, was born in Chianti, in Montefioralle. One of the houses in the historic centre of the hamlet is decorated with a "V", the symbol of the Vespuccis, to whom it certainly belonged.
Poets, Popes, Dukes, Barons and so on... In your trips from your rental villa in Chianti at the discovery of the hidden corners of the region, you will see plenty of commemorative plaques and aristocratic coats of arms evoking the Greats of history.
Our most requested villas for vacation rentals:
Villa for holidays on the hills of the Florentine countryside. Accommodation for 12+2 people, garden, private swimming pool, hydro massage, Internet connection.
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Villa for rent in the countryside of Chianti, near Florence. Accommodation for 8/12 people, private swimming pool, outdoor whirlpool bath for 7, Internet connection, children's playground, air conditioning. Golf club, riding stable and tennis club within a few kilometres. Possibility of organising dinners and cooking lessons.
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Villa for vacation rental in Radda in Chianti, between Florence and Siena, in the Tuscan countryside. Accommodation for 10 people, garden, swimming pool, panoramic view, Internet connection.
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Villa with swimming pool for rent near Siena for holidays in Tuscany. Villa with accommodation for 4/6 people, panoramic view on Siena.
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