History

Il Sogno di Francesca was born among the landscapes of Chitignano, surrounded by the natural beauty of the mountains. A few kilometers from Florence, traditional Tuscan cuisine is revisited and personalized to bring to the table all the freshness and quality of local products.

CHITIGNANO

At the foot of the Alpe di Catenaia, halfway between Chiusi della Verna and Rassina, lies the hillside village of Chitignano. The territory of the municipality, inhabited since Etruscan times, was considered an important connection route to the Val Tiberina and the Valle del Savio, as evidenced by the settlements of Rosina and Taena. In the Middle Ages it was disputed between the noble families of the area, and from 1261 control of the county passed to the Ubertini family. The illustrious personage who best represents this lineage is Guglielmino degli Ubertini, the warrior bishop who led the Ghibelline army in the Battle of Campaldino against the Guelph Florentines, in which the Supreme Poet also participated.

Following the battle of Campaldino, the political scenario had changed profoundly and the Counts of Chitignano, after an initial moment of indecision, signed an act of accomandigia in favour of the Florentine Republic, thus obtaining a series of economic benefits that allowed them to control the county uninterruptedly for almost 500 years.

The legacy of the Ubertini seigniory is still visible to the naked eye today in the cultivation of olives and vines, in the thermal springs studied since the 17th century, in the abundance of springs and watercourses characterised by incredible bio-diversity and once fundamental for tobacco cultivation and the production of gunpowder; practices that, once banned, drove the population to resort to smuggling, which was for a long time the main if not only source of sustenance for many families.