History The Castle of Lamole, in Chianti countryside, is still visibile nowadays in the middle of its tuscany valley full of chestnut and larch woods, climbing up from Greve the Monte San Michele, along the way to the suburb of Lamole; this way goes through the traditional tuscan countryside. The Castle of Lamole agritourism is situated on a spur and surrounded by woods since 1000, the Castle of Lamole farmhouse has kept its strategic position in defence of the Florentine borders during the war between Florence and Siena. Like many other settlements of this kind, the historical origins of the Castle of Lamole remains obscure as well as many events which took place between the X and the XII century and which brought to the medieval phenomenon of “incastellamento” (fortification).
At the moment, only the buildings' walls bear witness of the Castle glorious past in its actual profile of fortified village, as it is possible to see from the street of the countryside of Lamole.
The Castle of Lamole settlement appears as a group of apartments of different heights, placed in a very characteristic elliptic shape, 600 metres in length, forming the defensive boundary walls. Nowadays it is possible to see the ruins of the ancient walls only on the north-west side of the Castle of Lamole. The typical tuscan village, whose houses (apartments)still maintain many of the medieval architectural aspects, is crossed in its length by two narrow parallel streets forming three little squares, the most important of which is located at the end of the built-up area and of the spur on which lies the entire village. {mosimage} Middle Ages
Some masonry put in evidence inside the village bear witness of the Castle of Lamole existence since the beginning of the XII century.In the course of the 1200 the Castle of Lamole grew in importance and in its structure and maybe in that period it assumed its typical elliptic form and the secluded position on the spur. | The steep ground around the Castle has been changed into vineyard, olive trees and iris cultivated terraces. The well preserved chestnut woods with their woods and their chestnut fruits have become the main cultivation and support for the Lamole valley's family. In this way the agricultural nature of the Castle's environment and its surroundings has changed to the military usages' cost and according to the peasants culture's new requirement.
Paesant Age
In the XX century, after the world wars, when the tuscany countryside was abandoned and the peasants' flight towards the cities began, also the Lamole valley became deserted and the entire Chianti territory (the earth of tuscany country) sunk into despair and lack of means of support. Then, In the 70s, Mr. Vincenzo Marasco (engineer), bought the prominent part of the Lamole Castle, a short time after the peasants' flight and began a long restoration nowadays still in progress. The Castle medieval and cinquecento architecture has been brought back to its ancient magnificence, without altering the peasants' changes in the centuries. This is visible in the apartments which nowadays allow our guests to stay in rooms where history wrote its chapters through ages and generations. {mosimage} Riccardo and Virginia Marasco together with their sons Jacopo, Lorenzo and Mattia carry on with love and passion the work began by their grand father Vincenzo bringing back to life the charming of this important Tuscany suburb in the middle of the earth of tuscany in Chianti contryside, near Greve in Chianti. Their work allowed the agriculture to begin again and toghether with it the presence of guests. In this typical tuscany territory, through the Medieval Age and the Renaissance till nowadays, men respected the ancient tuscany traditions. Our guests find the best place to reconcile their souls and bodies with nature's silent harmony, colours and flavours, immersed in the earth of tuscany country and Tuscany historical sceneries. |
In 1250 the Castle of Lamole became seat of the town of Lamole and part of the Val di Greve alliance, rearguard of the ancient Chianti alliance born for the control and defence of the Chianti region.During the XIV and XV centuries the Castle of Lamole was probably one of the most important fortified centres in the territory together with the Castle of Panzano, similar in its fortified settlement distributed around some important buildings and the typically medieval architectural development with tower-houses and the main entrance door to the Castle.
The door, similar for dimension and for the stone manufacture, has been found inside one of the Castle's buildings and waits to be brought back to the ancient use and a nobler aspect. Renaissance
An official paper of the Florentine republic dated august 23rd,1478 relates that during the Aragonese troops advance on the Chianti at soldo di Siena, the Castle of Lamole was captured and burnt out. It was rebuilt after Florence won the war against Siena and became once more centre of the Florentine control on the territory, carrying out its administrative role during the whole 1500 under the seigniory of the Medici. Once there was no more need for the Florentine seigniory of defending the boundaries, the Castle saw its towers and its “luxury houses” become farmhouses gaining, in the meantime, the present look. New buildings have been built upon the medieval structures. The defence walls' ruins, knocked down during the wars, have been taken to pieces and their stones used in other buildings. | {mosimage} Resources |
