Description

The Castle of Bibbione is standing on the top of a hill in the Chianti Fiorentino area, between Florence and Siena.
Here, within the splendid green hills of the Chianti Classico, overlooking the Pesa Valley, it is possible to pass an unforgettable holiday in luxurious holiday apartments created in the antique hamlet or in an exclusive country villa belonging to the Castle of Bibbione. The impressive halls in the castle can be prepared for festivities (e.g. wedding receptions) or business meetings, according to the single needs and tastes.

Besides the Tuscan places of art and culture (e.g. S. Gimignano, Volterra, Pisa, Lucca) and the Chianti Area around, wide fields, woods as well as the characteristic hamlets around, are inviting to be discovered. The holiday guests of the castle have the possibility to use mountain bikes, to play table tennis or to relax at the swimming pool.
The estate has 100 ha of farmland, which in great part, are for the production of the Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The farm produces also Chianti Classico D.O.C.G. wine with the black cock ("Gallo Nero") and Vin Santo. All products can be purchased and tasted on the spot. Upon request it is possible to organize cooking courses.

History

Erected by the Cadolingi di Montecascioli, the Castle of Bibbione was already mentioned in antique documents from the year 997, under the name of Castrum Bibionis. Surrounded by a castle wall, which in the past served as final defence for its inhabitants, the castle dominates a medieval hamlet and antique farmhouses dotted over the slope of the hill. The land of the castle reaches until the via Cassia and the Pesa river lying below the hill. The foundation of the castle dates back to the 9th century and the works were completed in the year 1000, whereas the first group of stone farmhouses dates back to the latter half of the 13th century.

In the Renaissance, the battlements were removed and the fortification was then transformed into a country residence.
A particularity of the Castle is the underground passage which winds its way for hundreds of meters down to the river plain. This secret passage, certainly used for supplies during the sieges, has only been explored in its first section.
In 1124, the new owners of the land, the Buondelmonti, restored the old ruined sentinel. Therefore, Bibbione became one of the four Buondelmonti Castles, connected one to the other and constituting a quadrilateral in defence of the Pesa Valley: the Bibbione Castle, the Montefiridolfi Castle, the Pergolato Castle and the S. Andrea Castle at Fabbrica. Between the 12th and the 13th century, the Buondelmonti family had also built a small church dedicated to Santa Maria, next to the castle walls. In 1142 was inaugurate of the pilgrim's shelter "San Jacopo dei Calzaiuoli".

The property was sold in 1469 to Guido Sforza Aldobrandeschi.
In 1511, Niccolò Machiavelli (who possessed family estates about 6 km, from Bibbione in Sant'Andrea in Percussina) bought the Castle and the farmland using it as a hunting lodge.
The Machiavelli's remained in possession of the Bibbione complex until 1727, when the last lineage, Francesco Machiavelli, died leaving to his cousin, Giovanni Battista Rangoni, a Modenese noble descendent of the Machiavelli, heir to the name and the possions. He inherited also title and heraldic arms of the Machiavelli's adopting therefore the name of Rangoni Machiavelli.
The entire complex has been bound from 1913, being under preservation order. At present, the Marchioness Antonella Rangoni Machiavelli is the proprietor of the estate.

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