The Castle of Uzzano in its present form is essentially a typical Renaissance villa with a double-columned façade of white plaster and pietra serena. There are a few remains of the original rectangular mediaeval watch tower. The italianate garden was restored in the 18 C with the addition of a double staircase and some statues. Uzzano was a castle of relatively small dimensions that, in 1269, was deprived of its towers and walls at the hands of the Ghibellines. However, these defences must have been reconstructed in the first half of the 14 C when Uzzano was recorded as a castle (castrum) associated with a parish church (pieve) named San Martino and endowed with a stone wall and a gate. It was depicted as such again at the end of the 16 C in a drawing executed for the Florentine magistracy of the Captains of the Guelphs, in order to be transformed into a villa during the course of the following century. https://www.greve-in-chianti.com Today it is possible to discern only a few features of the ancient fortifications incorporated into the huge new structure designed by Andrea di Cione, known as l'Orcagna, and successively reshaped and widened. The few remains are still imposing in their effects and consist of small blocks of sandstone placed in regular rows. The presence in an angular, truncated tower of small sandstone blocks, datable to between the second half of the 13 C and the first half of 14 C century, possibly corresponds to the successive reconstructions following the destruction of 1269. The bastion that supports and consolidates the lower part of the walls definitely constitutes a later addition. The windows opened through the walls are all of even more recent date. The inner part of the Castello di Uzzano, which it is approached through a rusticated portal with round arches, coeval with the modern reconstruction of the entire complex, is rendered of great interest by the courtyard with porticos on four sides, finished with pietra serena pillars of remarkable elegance. The castle of Uzzano is famous for having provided the family name of the celebrated Niccolò di Giovanni da Uzzano, who, in Florence in the first years of the 15 C, vainly opposed the unstoppable rise of Cosimo de' Medici.

Il castello di Uzzano si trova nel comune di Greve in Chianti. Storia Il castello conserva i resti della rettangolare cerchia muraria, costruita in bozze di arenaria, la sua torre risale alla seconda metà del XIII secolo e la prima metà del XIV secolo e fu ricostruita dopo che i Ghibellini l'ebbero demolita, insieme alle mura, nel 1269. I resti del castello furono inglobati in un edificio costruito su disegno dell'Orcagna e ampliati successivamente. Esso appartenne alla famiglia di Niccolò da Uzzano, uomo politico fiorentino, Gonfaloniere di Giustizia, figlio di Giovanni ed è citato in una lettera del 1398, conservata dall'Archivio "Datini" di Prato, la quale riferisce di un certo Giorgio di Monte da Uzano, a proposito del conto per la fornitura di vino. Un arco che sovrasta il portale conduce alla parte interna della villa- fattoria, che è delimitata da portici con pilastri in pietra serena. Il giardino è "all'italiana", decorato da statue e da una scalinata doppia costruita nel Settecento. Intorno al castello ci sono vigneti sulle colline, con terrazzamenti che scendono sulla Greve.

GRATUITO - Il giardino "all'italiana" - I giardini uzzano@val.it - Proprietà privata (azienda vinicola) - Chiuso al pubblico

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