Badia a Coltibuono

Badia a Coltibuono stands on a wooded ridge above the Arno valley. Founded by Vallombrosan monks in the eleventh century, the abbey’s church, cloister and refectory remain within an estate that has continued as a farm and winery since monastic life ended.

Why it matters

The estate dates the abbey’s foundation to 1051, within the reform movement associated with Giovanni Gualberto and the Vallombrosan congregation. A document in the abbey archive from the late twelfth century contains an early written reference to the name “Chianti.” The surviving church and monastic buildings preserve the outline of the former abbey within the present agricultural estate.

What to notice

The church of San Lorenzo has a single nave and semicircular apse, with a crossing dome and a square bell tower. The nave’s pebble masonry contrasts with the limestone used in the transept, apse and tower. The tower’s construction began in 1160. The adjoining monastic complex includes a cloister and a refectory with frescoes; the formal Italian garden descends from the residential wing.

Context and history

The abbey accumulated farms and mills across Chianti and beyond, and from the thirteenth century operated under Florentine protection. Monastic life ended in 1810 during the Napoleonic suppressions, and the complex was sold and converted to a farm. In 1846 Florentine banker Michele Giuntini bought the abbey and its lands. His descendants, the Stucchi Prinetti family, continue to run the estate. In the twentieth century, Piero Stucchi Prinetti developed its Chianti Classico wine, and Lorenza de’ Medici founded a cooking school there. The estate is certified organic and includes extensive woodland.