MAREMMA TOSCANA – ITALY – 
Scansano is built in the hilly Maremma inland, along a strip of land …between the coast and the slopes of Mount Amiata.
Upon arriving in this area for the first time, you’re both charmed and astonished by the landscape’s variety and the harmony of its components. While large sections remain rugged and wild, as though man had not yet arrived, others immediately remind you of the centuries’ old wine making tradition.
A tradition that today produces one of the best known Italian DOC red wines in the world, the Morellino di Scansano. Vineyards and olive groves line the hills while flocks of sheep dot the countryside and horses graze in the pastures. Scenes from an authentic country landscape. However, Scansano is more than a dip into nature amid flowering broom, rockroses and strawberry trees. Most of all it is a monument rich historical centre dating from the early Middle Ages and the Tuscan fifteenth century.
First settled by the Etruscans and the Romans, as demonstrated by the archaeological site of Ghiaccio Forte, it was ruled by the Aldobrandeschi family and then by the Santa Flora counts in the sixteenth century. After a period of socio-political stagnation under the Medici, the town showed demographic and urban growth under the Grand duke of Lorraine.
At this time the so-called “estatatura” was instituted, that is, the summer period in which the public offices of Grosseto were transferred here and the village assumed the layout it still has today. There are several buildings from the 15th and16th centuries along the main street: Palazzo Vaccarecci can be identified by the family coat of arms on the facade, the Romanesque church of San Giovanni Battista and the small square with the Pretorio that was the seat of Grosseto’s civic offices during the “estatatura”.
The church of the Madonna delle Grazie, also known as the “church of the barrel”, is located outside the old centre and was very much reworked in 1862. Also outside the centre are the convent of the Patrero, originally the Aldobrandeschi Castle, and the Castle of Montepo, a massive and still intact fortress from the first half of the 16th century, circled by a high wall with four corner reinforcement embattled towers.
Upon arriving in this area for the first time, you’re both charmed and astonished by the landscape’s variety and the harmony of its components. While large sections remain rugged and wild, as though man had not yet arrived, others immediately remind you of the centuries’ old wine making tradition.
A tradition that today produces one of the best known Italian DOC red wines in the world, the Morellino di Scansano. Vineyards and olive groves line the hills while flocks of sheep dot the countryside and horses graze in the pastures. Scenes from an authentic country landscape. However, Scansano is more than a dip into nature amid flowering broom, rockroses and strawberry trees. Most of all it is a monument rich historical centre dating from the early Middle Ages and the Tuscan fifteenth century.
First settled by the Etruscans and the Romans, as demonstrated by the archaeological site of Ghiaccio Forte, it was ruled by the Aldobrandeschi family and then by the Santa Flora counts in the sixteenth century. After a period of socio-political stagnation under the Medici, the town showed demographic and urban growth under the Grand duke of Lorraine.
At this time the so-called “estatatura” was instituted, that is, the summer period in which the public offices of Grosseto were transferred here and the village assumed the layout it still has today. There are several buildings from the 15th and16th centuries along the main street: Palazzo Vaccarecci can be identified by the family coat of arms on the facade, the Romanesque church of San Giovanni Battista and the small square with the Pretorio that was the seat of Grosseto’s civic offices during the “estatatura”.
The church of the Madonna delle Grazie, also known as the “church of the barrel”, is located outside the old centre and was very much reworked in 1862. Also outside the centre are the convent of the Patrero, originally the Aldobrandeschi Castle, and the Castle of Montepo, a massive and still intact fortress from the first half of the 16th century, circled by a high wall with four corner reinforcement embattled towers.
Scansano (GR): Innamorarsi (versione inglese)ultima modifica: 2011-05-05T12:25:39+02:00da
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