Castellina in Chianti

Castellina stands on a ridge between the Pesa, Elsa and Arbia valleys, and people lived up here long before the castles. Just outside the town, the Etruscan tumulus of Montecalvario, a great grass-covered mound containing stone chamber tombs, can still be walked into — one of the most evocative ancient sites in Chianti.

In the centre, the medieval Rocca houses the Archaeological Museum of the Sienese Chianti, with finds from the area’s tombs and a view from the tower across the vineyards. Along the walls runs the Via delle Volte, a vaulted passage once used by the town’s defenders, now a covered walk with windows opening over the valley. A short drive south, the hamlet of Fonterutoli, where the Mazzei family has made wine for centuries, is a whole village in miniature, with its church, its houses and its cellar.

Castellina’s UGA has the largest area under vine of the eleven, some 1,680 hectares between roughly 300 and 500 metres, on the clay-limestone of the Sillano formation and on alberese. Its wines show bright fruit and a savoury edge, especially from the higher sites.

In August, Calici di Stelle brings evening tastings, food and music to the town. The rest of the year Castellina is an easy, pleasant base, and the roads out of it in every direction are among the most panoramic vineyard drives in Chianti.