Castello di Albola

The history of Castello di Albola began with the Monterinaldi family, who originally built it as a defensive fortress in the 12th century, on the disputed frontier between Florence and Siena. Between the 15th and 16th centuries, the Acciaiuoli family, powerful Florentine nobles, acquired the property, expanded it, and developed its first vineyards. Over the following centuries it passed through several notable Tuscan families, including the Samminiati and the Pazzi, and by around 1940 it was in the possession of Prince Giovanni Ginori Conti.

In 1979 the Zonin family acquired the property. The Zonins, a Venetian family cultivating a high-quality winemaking tradition for more than two centuries and seven generations, today own a 900-hectare estate, with just over 100 hectares of vineyards. The property preserves a small, charming medieval borgo with carefully restored buildings.

The Monterinaldi family's original 12th-century fortress situates Albola among the older documented defensive structures in the Chianti Classico zone, predating the vineyard development that later defined the estate's identity.

The succession of noble families — Acciaiuoli, Samminiati, Pazzi, and Prince Ginori Conti — gives Albola an unusually dense ownership history even by the standards of this collection, reflecting centuries of continuous aristocratic interest in the property.

The Zonin family's seven-generation winemaking tradition, applied to Albola since 1979, connects a historically significant Chianti fortress to one of Italy's most established wine dynasties, based originally in the Veneto rather than Tuscany.

The surrounding Chianti Classico wine route and the town of Radda in Chianti give guests staying at Albola direct access to one of Tuscany's most internationally recognized wine-growing regions.