MELETO CASTLE - CHIANTI AREA
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Meleto Castle rises in the council of Gaiole in Chianti. Like a fairy-tale, it announces itself in the enchanting Chianti landscape at the end of a pleasant driveway lined with cypresses and junipers, amid sun-kissed fields and vineyards. A magnificent testimony of history and the industrious presence of man. Today more than ever we are invited to plunge into the peacefulness of the countryside to savour its tastes and perfumes - wine, the odour of cellars and oil-mills, the wood of the furniture, grain, the thousand essences of field and meadow - forgetting time and its frenetic rhythms on the other side of the hills.
The origin of Meleto was in the XI century, as a possession of the monks of the near Coltibuono Abbey. The first vassal of the castle results to have been a certain Guardellotto. This was stripped of all his possessions for some contrasts born with the emperor Federico Barbarossa that entrusted Meleto to the local family of the Firidolfi, already installed in the other castles of the zone. From here had origin the branch of the Firidolfi known as "from Meleto" while another division of the family, known as Ricasoli Fibindacci, will strongly tie their name to the history of these zones of the Chianti. The strategic position, on a hill to direct control of the underlying road of connection between the Valdarno and the Chianti, plus the proximity with the border between the territories checked by the senesis and those Florentines, of which the castle was the last rampart, made of Meleto one of the principal fortifications of the "Terziere" (one of the three parts in which these Florentine military organizations was organized) of the "Chianti League" headed by Gaiole. For these reasons the castle was for centuries theater of wars, however without suffering serious destruction. The essentially " military" destination of the installation can still be found today, despite to the transformations suffered in the XVIII century: the form of irregular quadrate, almost a trapeze, with the presence at the center of the keep, although notably lowered, show us a classical example of castle-enclosure. In 1478 the castle was occupied by the Aragonese army allied with Siena, two years later it was quickly regained by the Florentine that started great works of reinforcement of the structures.
The 1480's addition is today practically still intact and consist in the two mighty cylindrical bastioned towers, gifted of machicolulis (opening between corbels of a parapet through which the defenders can drop rocks or fire projectiles against an enemy directly below them) posted at the two southern angles (the more exposed); of two hoarding in bricks at the northern angles overlooking the border of the crag, so already naturally defended; the reinforcement of the walls curtains toward the only road of access and the insertion of loopholes and gun holes, partly disappeared, along the perimeter of the enclosure. Thanks to this in the 1529 Meleto victoriously withstand to the siege of the imperial troops. Never destroyed through disputes, sieges and battles the castle was transformed in villa during the XVIII century and its defenses were partly dismantled. The interior, visible by a fee, has still today the aspect of this period, with decorated halls and a particular little theater of the year 1742 still provided of its seven original scenographies. Meleto remained ownership of the Ricasoli family until about thirty years ago, today is center of an agricultural firm for wines production.
The Farm
The land of the Meleto Farm stretches round the castle for about 1.000 hectares (2.471.000 acres), 180 of which are destined to the cultivation of the grapevine. The prevailing grapes are Sangiovese, destined to the production of "Chianti Classico" wine, together with Merlot, Cabernet, Syrah and other traditional types of vine. The soil is mostly marl, calcareous marl and albarese: it is just in this barren land that the grapevine gives its best fruits, full of scents and natural fragrances. The names of the estates and the hills remind of a remote Etruscan and Roman-Christian history: Casi, Moci, Pieve di Spaltenna, Camboi, San Pietro in Avenano, Poggiarso. A great wine for great grapes: "Chianti Classico Castello di Meleto" is a modern wine that keeps a fine and elegant taste; Reserve and Fiore keep a stronger structure, with mellow bouquet and violet reflections. An excellent Vinsanto is produced from the casks of Meleto cellars. The production line is completed by two kinds of grappa and a typical extra-virgin olive oil.
For other informations about the farm and the wines produced in the area of the Meleto Castle, visit the web-site www.castellomeleto.com.
+39 347 6708101
