Castles are imagination, fantasy, adventure, in the collective imagination they are rather dark places, where you can hear a trotting horse arriving in the distance, a knight dressed in black descending, a duel among the trees of a forest.
Even in Tuscany, many castles evoke this imagination, and lead those who visit them to fantasize about medieval duels or Renaissance revenge.
Yes, also because Castles are not always as we imagine them, with towers, lace, drawbridge and crocodiles around them, sometimes they are just huge and sumptuous palaces. And in Tuscany it is full of both.
By definition, the Castle is a structure also made up of several fortified buildings, built to house soldiers and garrisons, the castellan and his family.

They were in defense of the territory, often in strategic positions to allow them to be defensible and not very attackable, for this reason also the moat around which did not allow those who attacked to have easy access to the entrance.
The sign of recognition of the castle is above all the Mastio, that is the tower, which was often also the residence of the family that owns the Castle, so if you don’t have a Mastio in your home you don’t have a castle.
They said there are many castles, we take a few, let’s say we make a mini-ranking of the 5 castles that are worth seeing/visiting/trying for us, the others maybe in an article soon.
The first is unquestionably that of Vincigliata at the gates of Florence, then Castle of Poppi.
Certainly all these castles wouldn’t be real castles if they didn’t each have their own legends, ghosts, secrets, but to discover every hidden story, be it legend, reality or fantasy, all you have to do is come and discover them.
Prepare for battle!

1) The Castle of Vincigliata (Florence)

The first agglomeration of houses that began to constitute the foundations of the castle are around 1031, the property at that time was vinsodini and Alessandri.
For almost 800 years this castle has been the subject of losses to the game, sales, and has been owned by many imported and famous families of Florence, until almost complete destruction.
In 1840, now in ruin, a young English Lord John Temple Leader saw him during his walk on the Fiesolane hills, was hit and decided to buy him.
Among the legends, a young woman called a white woman is told, closed all her life in the tower by her father who did not want her to marry with the young man with whom he was in love, Lord fell in love with legend and this place of fantasies and decided to restore him, with the collaboration of great artisans and Florentine artists.
Inside he created his personal museum, hosting armor, frescoes and bas -reliefs bought or found in the Florentine shops.

2) the Castle of Fosdinovo (Massa Carrara)

The construction of this imposing fortress began in the mid-twelfth century.
It is the classic fairy tale castle, legend, with a quadrangular plant and the four rounded towers, the walkways above the roofs, an internal central courtyard and then loggias and terraces.
In ancient times it was protected by a drawbridge that led to a small courtyard where the defensive cannons were located with a Romanesque column that supports the upper loggias.
It is from here that the large ramps of stairs start that lead to the central courtyard, the stairs are so wide that you could go with the horses!
The portico that we are facing is all in stone and takes us to the castle rooms, furnished and frescoed at the end of the 19th century.
The large entrance hall, the dining salon with the ‘700 fireplace and the pitfall chamber with torture room under the room.

3) The Castle of Poppiano (Montespertoli)

A fascinating castle, immersed in the greenery of Chianti, the real one, Montespertoli, a place steeped in history, full of activities that the owner family is committed to handing down like the tradition of good wine, and its famous vin santo.
A castle also built around the year 1000, we know of it as early as 1199 when it already belonged to the Giucciardini family, still the owner today.
The Castle was part of the defense system of Florence and for this very reason it was attacked and almost destroyed during the famous siege of Florence in 1529.
The Castle is on a hill, it is surrounded by the medieval village, it is L-shaped and has a crenellated tower that can be visited, with the historic vinsanteria inside, where Vinsanto Guicciardini is still produced and kept to age.

4) Castle of Meleto (Gaiole in Chianti)

Possession of the Benedictine monks, we have evidence of this castle from the early 1100s. Subsequently it was owned by a certain “Guardellotto” who seems to be a member of a feudal family of the area from whom Federico Barbarossa confiscated everything to pass them on to the Ricasoli-Firidolfi family.
It is here that the branch of the Firidolfi da Meleto family was born.
In 1256 in the book of estimates of the Florentine Guelphs we read for the first time Meleto in Chianti, property of the Firidolfi.
It is positioned on the border between Siena and Florence when Siena and Florence were republics and this is why the castle was the scene of furious battles between Guelphs and Ghibellines.
It was the site of the Aragonese invasion of Chianti in 1478 and was also besieged during the Medici war, but by the Sienese, during the siege of Florence in 1529.

5) The Castle of Poppi (Poppi-Arezzo)

The Castle of Poppi is in the municipality of Poppi, and is really a monument of the town, which is located in the province of Arezzo.
Built approximately like the others around the year 1000, we have the first traces around 1191, then restructured in 1274 by the will of Count Simone Guidi and his son Guido.
The paternity of the construction is uncertain, there is also talk of Arnolfo di Cambio, already the father of many works in Tuscany, such as the tower that overlooks Palazzo della Signoria in Florence, called Arnolfo’s tower.
The history of this castle is important because it was here that one of the most famous battles between Guelphs (mostly Florentines) and Ghibellines (mostly Sienese) took place, the battle of Campaldino which was fought on 11 June 1289 at the which participated among others, Dante Alighieri and Cecco Angiolieri.
The victory of the Guelphs in this battle opened the way for the hegemony of Florence over all of Tuscany.