The Castle and Village of Vertine

A Medieval Jewel

 

Vertine seen from the air with its gate tower and castle keep tower and what remains of the curtain wall

The castle of Vertine is first mentioned in a document of 1013. Thus the village of Vertine is over 1000 years old. A statement like this can stagger. As a native of the Antipodes where white settlement goes back a mere 250 years, I am continually staggered, in this part of the world.

the castle keep, today an attractive B&B

Apart from being a castle and village for 1000 years, Vertine can almost certainly claim to have been inhabited over the same period. Not bad for a tiny village which must have seen wars, plague and countless other crises in its long existence.

 

gate with its tower in handsome coursed rubble masonry (a filaretto): the stone of Vertine is the local white albarese

In 1049 Pietro di Pietro donated the entire property 'integram suam portionem de castello e curte de Vertine', which included 12 farms, to the nearby recently-established monastery of Coltibuono.

the abbey of Coltibuono, built in 1049: there was a lot going on in this part of the world 1000 years ago

Founded by the Firidolfi family and subsequently administered by the Vallombrosani Benedictines and owned by them until the early 19th century, the Abbazia di Coltibuono (which means good harvest) surely benefited from the Vertine's land and properties pertaining as it became one of the wealthiest abbeys in the region.

looking into the village through the only gate still extant; note the rounded arch above a flattened arch

immediately inside the village is a tiny café-bar which seems perennially to be closed despite its outside tables and chairs

The Vertine property passed hands for another couple of centuries until it was taken over by the powerful Ricasoli family (famous for the castle of Brolio, see my post here) in 1202.

the church of San Bartolomeo was built in the 11th century like the castle, but its facade was restored in the 1930s

Saint Bartholomew's colourful romanesque interior is original

Their ownership persisted until modern times; during the Aragonese wars, between 1452 and 1478, the castle was the Ricasoli's principal residence. 

glimpse of gate tower

This tiny fortified village, two minutes from Gaiole and twenty from Radda, is well worth a visit. Since 2011 it boasts an attractive bed and breakfast located in the castle.

an entrance to the castle with its rather magnificent iron gates

a castle window facing onto the street

The castle, which resembles a fortified manor house complete with tower, stands at the far end of the village and overlooks the surrounding hills.

tomatoes and onions drying in the loggia of a Vertine home; all around the village are vegetable gardens, a sure sign that the place is alive and kicking

The population of Vertine was thirty-one in 2001, although that number would swell somewhat in the summer. Those thirty-one inhabitants still cultivate their vegetable gardens below the walls, hold a festa del paese each year, celebrate Saint Bartholomew on his saint's day, sit outside their front doors to take a little air, dry tomatoes and onions from the beams of their verandahs, take a coffee at the village's only bar (when open), care for potplants on their windowsills and steps and organise concerts in Vertine's tiny square.

So life in Vertine continues while tourists amble through to admire its ancient stones.

In this year of anniversaries of armed conflict, a quiet monument at the village gates reminds us of the sacrifices made by the village of Vertine.  For the population gave up its sons to war when the country required it. It is shocking that such a tiny place should have sacrificed seventeen in the First World War and  another twelve in the Second World War, four of whom were civilians. Such numbers repeat themselves in the thousands of towns and villages up and down the country, but they are sobering nevertheless.

war monument to the 20th century fallen of Vertine

Vertine is just off the road from Radda in Chianti to Gaiole: a right turn towards San Donato in Perano along an unsealed road takes you through some breathtaking scenery to this virtually intact medieval village-fortress.

David seems to be taking a open-air shower here in a Vertine garden