The origins

In a truly unique case, Badia a Coltibuono still retains its original structure. In 1051, the monk Giovanni Gualberto received the Church of San Lorenzo a Coltibuono as a gift from powerful local feudal lords. A community of Vallombrosan monks settled there, quickly gaining high regard for their reformist spirit and outspoken opposition to the widespread corruption within the clergy. The abbey soon assumed a prominent religious, political, social, and economic role.

In the following decades, numerous donations followed—both of large estates from the aristocracy and smaller plots from poor farmers seeking shelter and protection in a turbulent era.

Badia a Coltibuono thus amassed a significant estate which, quite exceptionally, was never fragmented or dispersed in the centuries that followed.

The Vallombrosan monks, being keen scholars and sensitive to the value of natural resources, revitalized the cultivation of the land, focusing especially on vines and olive trees—activities already practiced since the 3rd century BC by the Etruscans and Romans from the nearby village of Cetamura del Chianti. They also introduced the cultivation of silver fir and chestnut trees, species still found in the woods surrounding the abbey.

The Latin name Badia Cultusboni, as recorded in ancient documents, expresses the essence of this place through its multiple meanings: cultivation of the land, the spirit, and good things.

One of the earliest mentions of the place name Chianti is found in a document from the abbey’s archives, dated to the late 12th century.

The excellent wines produced at Badia a Coltibuono from the beginning were known and appreciated even by Lorenzo the Magnificent.

After the suppression of the monastery in 1810, following the Napoleonic edicts, the tradition of wine and olive oil production was continued by new private owners.