Tenuta di San Donato
A tale of authenticity
Nestled between its olive groves and vineyards, it has stood on Colle di San Donato in Calenzano, in the barren Florentine countryside.
A long-lasting tradition, a profound love for the land, an insatiable passion for good Oil and good Wine.
Tenuta di San Donato is located north of the Parish Church on the hill by the same name rising in the municipality of Calenzano in the province of Firenze, and was built in the 1500s.
The building complex making up the farm villa, set in a panoramic spot among terraces covered by olive groves 120 mt. above sea level, is part of a small group of houses called “il Borgo” (the Hamlet), the oldest of the housing complexes built on Colle di San Donato.
One of the Borgo’s farmhouses was converted into a farm villa, with its own private chapel, at the end of the 18th century, and became the property of the Florentine aristocratic Morrocchi’s family in the mid-1800s.
It was acquired by the Marquises Pancrazi at a later date.
Today the estate is owned by a descendant, Maddalena Pancrazi, who alongside her family works passionately on the farm’s activity, constantly researching and preserving the location’s rural authenticity and the values passed on down the centuries, thanks to her agronomist’s technical contribution.
The main farming activities are carried out in the farm’s olive oil mill and cellar: the production of extra-virgin olive oil and wine.
March 2021, Maddalena Pancrazi and Alessandro Roccavilla
ARTISANSHIP
Surrounded by nature
A few years ago Maddalena Pancrazi and her family decided to leave the city for good and move to the Farm Villa to follow all its activities personally, In order to oversee and guarantee the production chain and safeguard the authenticity of a rural setting preserved for centuries.
Artisan production of Wine and Oil is the result of a lot of work and of constant research aimed at establishing a high quality level.
In addition to vineyards and olive groves, most of the land owned by the farm is covered by woods.
The biodiversity typical of these lands and its dynamic balance need to be safeguarded, and at the same time understood as precious resources. For this reason and for the future the people working with these crops devote constant attention to sustainability: for the benefit of the land, its creatures, of the people taking care of them and the end consumer.
