Les origins

Fattoria La Castellina was founded in 1980 originating from the historical properties  of the Squarcialupi family, an ancient nobile family of Florentine descent, which in 1250 had about reached the apex of its power.

The Squarcialupi descends from the founder Scorcialupo, of Longobard origins.

The Squarcialupi family had important ties with the nobility Fiorentina and Senese, allying at different times with Florence and Siena in the period when the two cities were rivals and fought in the neighboring territories of Castellina in Chianti, between 1200 and 1550.

The family during that period was distinguished for  being a ferocious and brave warrior and counted among  some  very important people such as Antonio, a singer who lived in Florence in 1400, Marcello, a heretic in 1500 and at the same time, Ignatius, the 'Abbot of the Abbey of Montecassino, the seat of the powerful Benedictine order.

The Palazzo Squarcialupi, the historical site of Fattoria La Castellina, became an important center of the powerful family Squarcialupi after the destruction by the Florentines of their most important office in the Sienese territory, the Monternano Castle inn 1254.

Since then the family has focused its power in the territory of Castellina in Chianti, the capital of the Chianti terziere, consisting of Castellina, Radda and Gaiole.

The Palace contains within its walls, the oldest coat of arms, the wolf with 6 balls at the bottom of the emblem, the symbol of the covenant between the Squarcialupi with the Medici family of Florence.

This link is personified in the early 1400s and up to 1450 by Antonio Squarcialupi, famous organist in the service of Lorenzo the Magnificent and owner of the Squarcialupi Codex, the first collection of musical works of the Ars Nova, which was opposed to the Ars Antiqua in 1400 and it was considered profane by the Church.

Also the Squarcialupi’s at the same period and with other branches of the family, were also enemies of the Medici and allied with the Pazzi family, the architects of the conspiracy that led to the death of Giuliano de 'Medici, brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent in 1476.