Greve in Chianti historical timeline

History

Greve is a market square that outgrew its castle. The village began as a dependency of Montefioralle on the hill above, and became the principal mercatale of the area for one reason: it sits where the roads between the Valdarno, the Val di Greve and the route from Florence through the Chianti hills to Sienese territory all meet. The square took the shape the trade required — an elongated triangle under porticoes — and the comune that grew around it spent the next six centuries acquiring the castles, pievi and villas that are now its frazioni.

Chronology

10th-11th c. The pieve di San Leolino is recorded, under the name San Leolino a Flacciano. Cintoia is first heard of between the end of the tenth century and the beginning of the eleventh, though its organisation is only legible from the second half of the thirteenth.
12th century The present San Leolino is built: Romanesque, three naves divided by quadrangular piers and covered by timber trusses. A Jerusalem cross carved into one of the surviving stones of the castle of Cintoia marks the existence of a shelter for travellers.
13th century The Castello di Verrazzano, possibly a Lombard watch-post to begin with, is transformed into a casa da signore; a crenellated tower of this period still stands. At Montefioralle, a Madonna col Bambino of the Florentine school is datable to the century's end.
14th century The Castello di Mugnana, formerly the Amidei's, passes to the Florentine family of the Bardi; it belongs to the old Lega di Cintoia, and its tower — originally some sixty metres — is later cut down for military reasons. In the square, the tabernacle of the piazza del Mercatale holds the fresco of the Madonna col Bambino now inside Santa Croce.
1485 Giovanni da Verrazzano is born at the Castello di Verrazzano, about two kilometres from the centre of Greve on a hill at 348 metres.
17 April 1524 Verrazzano reaches the bay where New York now stands. It is the single fact that takes this comune out of Tuscany: the statue at the centre of Greve's square, by the sculptor Romeo Pazzini, is of him.
1530 The Castello di Mugnana is damaged by the Aragonese, allied to Siena in the war against Florence.
16th century A portico is set in front of San Leolino.
17th century The Castello di Verrazzano becomes what it still is: a classic Tuscan villa with a farm, inside a formal Italian garden.
before 1860 Administratively, Greve looks north-east rather than south. Before it enters the Province of Florence, it forms part of the vicariate of San Giovanni Valdarno, on the boundary with the vicariate of Certaldo — which contained the province of Chianti, now entirely inside the province of Siena.
after 1860 The coat of arms is adopted. The figure in its upper part probably refers either to Florence's Arte della Lana, whose emblem was the paschal lamb, or to the sheep-rearing of the area; the gold-and-azure troncato below takes the blazon of the Adimari of Florence, lords of the castle of Cintoia.
1890 An earthquake damages the Castello di Mugnana, nearly four centuries after the Aragonese did.
1934 The pieve di San Donato a Mugnana, on land that had been the Bardi di Vernio's and given its Romanesque dress in the fourteenth century, is rebuilt.
Second World War Greve in Chianti is one of the Tuscan comuni designated a place of free internment for foreign Jews and political dissidents. At least seven people are held there under forced residence for short periods: two Slav family groups whose relatives were accused of anti-Italian activity, and a Greek Jew, Vittorio Giuseppe Nacamulli.
3 December 1943 Under the German occupation and the Italian Social Republic, during a round-up by the Banda Carità around the frazione of San Michele, the Florentine Jewish businessman Goffredo Passigli is arrested with his sons Leone and Giuseppe. Deported, they die at Auschwitz.
24 July 1944 Liberation. As the front approached, acts of resistance multiplied and there were ferocious reprisals against the civilian population.
1963 New York names the bridge with what was then the longest suspended span in the world after Greve's navigator: the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.
10 September 1977 The town adds "in Chianti" to its name, on entering the Chianti Classico subzone. The English-language record instead gives 1972, after the inclusion of the area in the Chianti wine district; the two do not agree, and the more precise Italian date is the one carried here.

Verified against Wikipedia, October 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — Since the Middle Ages the history of Greve has been tied to its principal square, which has always exercised the function of a mercatale; the village was a simple dependency of the castle of Montefioralle but, thanks to its position at the point where the connecting routes between the Valdarno, the Val di Greve and the road leading from Florence through the Chianti hills into the Sienese met, it could become the principal mercatale of the area., The square of Greve, of the characteristic shape of an elongated triangle, is for the greater part surrounded by porticoes, and at its centre is placed the statue by the sculptor Romeo Pazzini representing Giovanni da Verrazzano; one of the vertices of the square is occupied by the parish church dedicated to Santa Croce, of the 19th century., From the historical-administrative point of view, before entering the Province of Florence, Greve formed part of the vicariate of San Giovanni Valdarno, although on the border with the vicariate of Certaldo, of which the province of Chianti formed part, now entirely comprised in the Province of Siena., During the Second World War Greve in Chianti was one of the comuni of Tuscany designated as a place of free internment for foreign Jews and political dissidents, where at least 7 people stayed under forced domicile for brief periods -- two Slav family groups whose relatives were accused of anti-Italian activity, and a Greek Jew, Vittorio Giuseppe Nacamulli., In the period of the German occupation and the Italian Social Republic, in the course of a round-up carried out by the Banda Carita around the frazione of San Michele, on 3 December 1943 the well-known Florentine Jewish businessman Goffredo Passigli was arrested together with his sons Leone and Giuseppe; deported, they died at Auschwitz, and with the approach of the front acts of resistance multiplied and there were also ferocious acts of reprisal against the civilian population, until the liberation on 24 July 1944., Greve in Chianti added the denomination "in Chianti" from 10 September 1977, with its entry into the Classico subzone of Chianti, and is an Italian comune of 13,321 inhabitants of the Metropolitan City of Florence in Tuscany, situated on the via Chiantigiana which joins Florence with Siena passing through the Chianti., The English-language record instead states that the old name was Greve and that in 1972 it was renamed Greve in Chianti after the inclusion of that area in the Chianti wine district, and gives the town as about 31 kilometres south of Florence and 42 kilometres north of Siena., The pieve di San Leolino is recorded from the tenth century under the denomination of San Leolino a Flacciano, but the present building, of Romanesque plan with three naves divided by quadrangular piers and covered by timber trusses, dates to the twelfth century and is preceded by a portico of the sixteenth century., The Pieve di San Donato a Mugnana rises on land that belonged to the Bardi di Vernio. From the fourteenth century, the period in which it was given a Romanesque style, the pieve underwent various restructurings over the years and in 1934 it was rebuilt. Not far from the pieve there is a small cemetery which has been restored in recent times., The Castello di Verrazzano and its annexed borgo stand about 2 km from the centre of Greve on a hill at 348 metres. It belonged to the family of the celebrated Giovanni da Verrazzano. Born perhaps as a watch-post of the Lombard period, in the thirteenth century it was transformed into a so-called casa da signore, and then in the seventeenth century became a classic Tuscan villa with a farm. Of the thirteenth-century castle a crenellated tower remains. All around the villa is a notable Italian garden. Giovanni da Verrazzano, explorer, navigator and discoverer of North America and, on 17 April 1524, of the bay where New York now stands, was born there in 1485., In the Castello di Verrazzano, in 1485, was born Giovanni da Verrazzano, explorer, navigator and discoverer on 17 April 1524 of the bay where New York stands today. In his honour the city of New York named the bridge which at the time, in 1963, had the longest suspended span in the world, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge., In the fourteenth century the Castello di Mugnana, whose previous owners were the Amidei, became the property of the Florentine family of the Bardi. This castle formed part of the ancient Lega di Cintoia. Its tower was originally about sixty metres high, but was then reduced for military reasons. Its construction and that of the walls dates to the years preceding the fourteenth century. The castle was damaged by the Aragonese allied to Siena in the war against Florence (1530) and, in 1890, because of an earthquake., Cintoia is heard of between the end of the tenth century and the beginning of the eleventh, but to know its organisation one must refer to the second half of the thirteenth. The castle of Cintoia today is almost entirely destroyed; the settlement surrounding it is formed of buildings presenting archivolts and architraves in their doors and windows and masonry in filaretto. In a rough stone of the surviving wall structures of the castle of Cintoia there is carved a cross of Jerusalem type, the sign of the existence of a shelter for travellers., Montefioralle is a castle, known in the past as Monteficalle. The borgo, placed a short distance from Greve, is of almost circular form. There rises the church dedicated to Santo Stefano, which houses a Madonna with Child of the Florentine school datable to the end of the thirteenth century. At the high altar is a panel depicting the Trinity and Saints, a fifteenth-century work attributed to the Master of the Epiphany of Fiesole. In the settlement there is also a house said to have been the property of the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci. It preserves its walls, though partly incorporated into more recent constructions, and its streets entirely paved., The figure in the upper part of the coat of arms, adopted after 1860, probably refers to the corporation of the Arte della Lana of Florence, which had as its emblem the paschal lamb, or to the sheep-rearing of the zone. The troncato of gold and azure takes up the blazon of the Adimari of Florence, lords of the castle of Cintoia. The gonfalon is a cloth of azure. (October 2026).