Chiocchio, the castle of Mugnana and the Cintoia valley in Chianti, Tuscany

Thursday, 5 January 2017

Chiocchio, the castle of Mugnana and the Cintoia valley in Chianti, Tuscany

Chiocchio is a village on the Via Chiantigiana that wanders from one villa and farm to another along the ridges of Chianti, Italy between Florence and Siena. In early times, Chiocchio was a fairly important crossroads with a road running to the Castle of Mugnana which was probably built on the remains of Ad Aquileia, a Roman way-station on the Via Cassia. The castle represents a typical case of the 14 C transformation of a castle into a single-family, private residence. It belonged to the Bardi family of Florence during Renaissance times and later.

The Castello di Mugnana near Chiocchio in Chianti, Tuscany

The Pieve (Parish church) of San Donato a Mugnana is located nearby and was for long a dependency of the Castle of Mugnana. Although much reconstructed over the centuries, the Pieve di San Donato a Mugnana is a Romanesque foundation.

The Pieve of San Donato a Mugnana near Chiocchio

From the via Chiantigiana, I recommend making an excursion by taking the turn to the east a short distance to the south of Strada in Chianti, to explore the beautiful Valley of Cintoia by driving to La Panca and then rejoining the via Chiantigiana at Greve in Chianti.

The Castle of Cintoia might take its name from the Roman expression "centuria", an area of ground of about 50 hectares but it is more ttle of the original castle remains, having been replaced by some large farm houses.