Castellina in Chianti Things to Do

Castellina in Chianti is a popular tourism destination for visitors to the Chianti classico wine zone of Tuscany: www.castellina.com It has an attractive small main street and city walls. Fewer tourists visit the Etruscan tomb nearby but this should not be missed.

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Via delle Volte is a medieval street in Castellina, which runs along the old city walls. Originally it was open to the sky, but these days it is an underground street. It was gradually covered-in over the years by houses and shops being built up against the wall, when the wall were no longer needed for defensive purposes.

It is great to take a walk along this ancient arched passage, with its secret nooks and cellars. You can even do some shopping along the way - perhaps stop off and buy some postcards to send to your VT friends.

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The castle of Castellina dates back to the 15th century and was built by the order of Lorenzo il Manifico, the ruler of Firenze, who sent his famous military architect, Giuliano da Sangallo, to help reinforce of the place.
Nowadays, the atrium of the castle is used for exibiting Etruscan archaeological finds. Unfortunatelly, by the time of my visit the castle was closed for public visitors.

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Via delle Volte is very impressive arched passage along the east side of the defense city walls. It is also called Pomerium, which means oficially available corridor, and in archaic times was used for sacred rites. Originally, the corridor was without a roof but afterwards it was closed with the buildings.

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The church of San Salvatore originally dates back to the 16th century, but it was rebuilt and extended in neo-romanic style after destruction in WW II. The church keep important 14th century fresco of Madonna by Bicci di Lorenzo. Worth of note is also Renaissance wooden statue of Sant' Barnaba, the former patron sainf of the city.