Bed and Breakfast in Chianti:Historical Residence B&B Near Florence

Palazzo Malaspina is located in San Donato in Poggio. The town, founded in Roman times, was the principal fortification of the area, serving to defend the Roman road that led from Florence to Siena. The “castrum” (militaary fortress), which in the year 1033 belonged to the family of Count Guidi, became autonomous during the era of the communes. Lying between the cities of Florence and Siena, who were eternally vying for supremacy over the territory, San Donato was frequently the scene of important events, such as the gathering of the Florentine army in 1260, prior to the Battle of Montaperti against the Republic of Siena. The town was destroyed in 1289 by the Ghibellines of Arezzo and subsequently rebuilt with a typical protective wall encircling it.

Portions of the outer wall surrounding the original town are still standing. Of particular interest are the Florentine Gate and the Sienese Gate, each with a scarp tower, as well as numerous turrets, including a bell tower and the so-called “little tower” which overlooks the valley. Within the oldest section of the inner town one can still admire the urban structure of the medieval burg, with narrow streets winding up and down among the thirteenth-century dwellings. Also in this central core of the town are the main town square (Piazza Malaspina), the public cistern, Palazzo Pretorio and the Romanesque church of Santa Maria della Neve.

Around the year 1000, outside the walls of San Donato, a parish church in the Tuscan Romanesque style was built, featuring three naves and three semicircular apses. The interior of the church is graced by a baptismal font in glazed terracotta, the work of Giovanni della Robbia (1513) and a crucifix attributed to Taddeo Gaddi.
Palazzo Malaspina is located in the central town square. Built in the late Renaissance, the building stands in the very spot where the homes and shops of the original fortification once stood. The Palazzo is a living monument to another era, housing inside its walls relics and long-forgotten secrets of the past. Once owned by the noble Ticci and Malaspina families, since the nineteenth century it has belonged to the Pellizzari family.