Panzano in Chianti historical timeline

History

Panzano is the Chianti town that was never in the Lega del Chianti. Its castle belonged to the Firidolfi, its territory to the Lega della Val di Greve, and its church was named three centuries before the village was. Sacked after Montaperti and again by the Visconti's troops, it ended the fifteenth century as the Republic of Florence's command post on this frontier — and then saw no fighting at all for nearly four hundred years.

Chronology

6th-5th c. BC The oldest evidence here has been lost. The area is already inhabited in Etruscan times, as a stele found near the pieve di San Leolino showed — a stele afterwards dispersed.
Roman period The area is densely settled, and numerous traces remain in the place names, Panzano among them.
early 10th c. The church is named before the village is. The Pieve di San Leolino a Flacciano is cited — Flacciano later becoming Panzano.
982 The pieve is recorded in a parchment of the abbey of Passignano.
before 1100 The castle is older than its first mention. It has certainly developed by now and is among the possessions of the Firidolfi — the same family that held Meleto in Gaiole in Chianti — who at Panzano were also called da Panzano.
12th century The first record of the name Panzano, in the phrase plebe Sancti Leolini sitam in Panzano.
mid-13th c. It belongs to the Val di Greve, not to the Lega del Chianti. When the Florentine contado is organised into leagues, Panzano falls within the Lega della Val di Greve. The three terzieri of the Lega del Chianti were Radda, Gaiole and Castellina, and Panzano was never one of them.
1260 After the battle of Montaperti the castle is plundered and two of its towers destroyed by the victorious Ghibelline troops.
13th century The tithes cite the church of Santa Maria standing inside the castle.
1397 Sacked a second time. During the war between Florence and the Visconti of Milan, Panzano is occupied and sacked by the troops of Alberico da Barbiano.
1478 It becomes Florence's command post. During the war of the Pazzi, Sienese troops and their allies — the forces of Ferdinand I, the Aragonese king of Naples — invade the Chianti for the second time. Panzano's castle is one of the most important bulwarks defending the Republic of Florence, so much so that it becomes the seat of the Commissario della Repubblica.
1555 And then nothing, for four centuries. Following the fall of the Republic of Siena, Panzano is not caught up in warfare again until 1944.
mid-19th c. The castle changes hands. Built and always owned by the Firidolfi or da Panzano — a family that, some authors hold, gave its name to Florence's Via Panzani after moving into the city — it passes, partly by succession and partly by repurchase, from the Conti Mancini to the Buoninsegni, later Tadini Buoninsegni.
2nd half of the 20th c. The Tadini Buoninsegni hold the castle until this period, when it leaves the family that had kept it for some eight hundred years.

Verified against Wikipedia, October 2026.

← Back to Panzano in Chianti overview

Sources & verification Covers the sourced claims on this page.

Checked against Wikipedia — The area of Panzano was already inhabited in Etruscan times, as shown by the discovery near the pieve di San Leolino of a stele dating to the sixth to fifth century BC, a stele afterwards dispersed; in the Roman period too the area was densely inhabited, and numerous traces of that period remain in the place names, among them Panzano itself., At the beginning of the tenth century the Pieve di San Leolino a Flacciano is cited, Flacciano later becoming Panzano; the first record of the name Panzano is of the twelfth century, in the phrase plebe Sancti Leolini sitam in Panzano, while the thirteenth-century tithes also cite the church of Santa Maria placed inside the castle., The pieve di San Leolino is a Catholic place of worship at Panzano in Chianti, a frazione of Greve in Chianti in the province of Florence, diocese of Fiesole; it is recorded from 982 under the name of San Leolino a Flacciano in a parchment of the abbey of Passignano, though two sculptural fragments conserved inside suggest the church has an origin older still. The present building goes back to the twelfth century, as can be deduced from its structural and stylistic characteristics. In the medieval period the church had great importance and fourteen suffragan churches depended on it, among them the one inside the castle of Panzano. In 1508 the patronage of the church passed to the Florentine hospital of Santa Maria Nuova., The castle of Panzano had certainly developed before the twelfth century and was among the possessions of the Firidolfi family; it was built and always owned by the Firidolfi or da Panzano, who according to some authors gave their name to Florence's present Via Panzani after moving into the city, and in the mid-nineteenth century it passed partly by succession and partly by repurchase from the Conti Mancini to the Buoninsegni family, later Tadini Buoninsegni, to whom it belonged until the second half of the twentieth century., In the mid-thirteenth century, when the Florentine contado was organised into leagues, Panzano was included in the Lega della Val di Greve., After the battle of Montaperti in 1260 the castle of Panzano was sacked and had two towers destroyed by the victorious Ghibelline troops; during the war that set Florence against the Visconti of Milan, Panzano was occupied and sacked again in 1397 by the troops of Alberico da Barbiano., In 1478 during the war of the Pazzi, the Sienese troops and their allies the troops of the king of Naples Ferdinand I of Aragon invaded the Chianti for the second time; on that occasion the castle of Panzano was one of the most important bulwarks in defence of the Republic of Florence, so much so that it became the seat of the Commissario della Repubblica. After the fall of the Republic of Siena in 1555, Panzano was not involved in warlike events again until 1944. (October 2026).