History
History
There is no place in Chianti that does not fade into legend.
The origins of Albola, there where the Pesa river begins, draws on the myth of proto-Villanovan civilization, and it is certain that the place’s name has Etruscan origins. The earliest plots of land in Albola's history related to wine culture are found in the Dizionario fisico geografico del Granducato di Toscana (1841) by Emanuele Repetti, an important Italian geographer, historian and naturalist, who wrote, "Properly called Albola, a land accredited for its vineyards, from which perhaps the best wines of Chianti are obtained." In reality, however, Albola was mentioned much earlier. This territory was first mentioned in documents dating back to the 11th century. In a document dated 1010, the Archbishop of Milan Arnolfo II granted a certain Gerardo a lease for the cultivation of ten mansi owned by the Milanese church. The diocese held these lands for about three centuries. Then it is known to have depended on the Abbey of Coltibuono. But it is certain that when Radda - the municipality in whose territory the Castle is located - became the capital of the League
of Chianti under Florentine rule, the Castle was already well-armed and populated, held in lordship by the nobles of Monterinaldi. At the beginning of the 14th century, the "Liga et societas de Chianti" was established to determine the order of the territories, under the emblem of the Black Rooster and with the subdivision into the Terzieri (localities) of Gaiole, Castellina and Radda, the latter being chosen to house the headquarters (Podesteria). The real expansion of Albola and the castle occurred with the arrival of one of the branches of the very powerful Florentine Acciaiuoli family. At the end of the 15th century, Lodovico Acciaiuoli, who as a "distinguished citizen doctor and Florentine lawyer" aspired to expand the Chianti estates, founding the actual estate of Pian d'Albola as we know it today. In 1515, Acciaiuoli finally succeeded in buying not only the land but also the "Casa Vecchia" from the lords of Monterinaldi and built the villa, incorporating two massive towers, giving rise to the idea of the Renaissance villa that characterizes all noble Chianti architecture.
From the 16th century onward, Albola became one of the most coveted estates for Florentine families. This is demonstrated by the interest of the Samminiati, who in the early 1600s, as the male descendants of the Acciaiuoli had died out, came into possession of Pian d'Albola through the marriage of Ascanio Samminiati and Caterina Acciaiuoli. In the mid-1700s, another person with the name Ascanio Samminati would make Pian d'Albola a sumptuous residence and bring impetus to viticulture by implementing a complete project for the estate for the first time, including with notable irrigation works.
When Samminiati died, the property passed to the Pazzi family, one of the oldest and noblest Florentine families, again by marriage; the Pazzis held it de facto until the mid-19th century. For the next century Pian d'Albola, which was declared in the 1832 general census of Chianti as one of the very few self-sufficient estates in the entire area, knew several owners until in 1940 when it was purchased by Prince Giovanni Ginori Conti, and finally, forty years later, became the property of the Zonin family.
