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CASTELLO DELLA PANERETTA

400 years of history

The Paneretta castle is situated in the Chianti Classico area on the western slopes of

the dominating hills of the Elsa valley, looking towards San Gimignano. It was built around an ancient sighting tower. The morning after the battle from Montaperti, the “Ghibellini” ordered to leave the castle of Cepparello in 1260. This place was an important suburb and fortress of this area. So the sighting tower becomes bigger and reaches its importance. The first owners of the castle were the family Vettori, the last heir, Maddalena, brought it as dowry to her wedding with Ludovico Capponi in 1577.

The couple restored the castle completely and commissioned Bernardino Poccetti, important manner painter, to fresco the loggia of the court. In this era the Paneretta became a place of passing by for painters and poets, one of those, Gerolamo Muzio, dedicated a poem to the castle and remained here until his death. Also the production of wine is documented from 1596 on. In 1696, Cassandra Capponi brought the castle an important collection of codex’s parchments and books into her marriage with the Marchese Carlo Riccardi Strozzi. This collection formed the nucleus of the Riccardian library in Florence. The Strozzi family remained owner of the castle until 1984, in this year, the family Albisetti took over. With its 309 hectares (majority wood) the Paneretta is one of the biggest farms of the area, producing 900 hectolitres of wine from 26 hectares of vineyards.