Bronze rooster Castellina in Chianti

Do you know why there is a black rooster on the logo of the Chianti Classico wine? The story (or rather, the legend...) goes back to the Middle Ages, when the Republic of Siena and the Republic of Florence, constantly at war with each other to assert their supremacy and conquer enemy territory, tore up precious miles of border that - as luck would have it! - who ran close to the Chianti area, tried a solution that would today be called diplomatic.
Each republic chose its own knight and entrusted its fate to him: both had to leave their city at the crack of dawn, at the first crowing of the rooster, to gallop toward the enemy city. The exact place where they would meet would be the border between the two republics.
The Sienesen chose a calm, well-fed rooster with white plumage (certainly not a "battle cock") as their alarm clock, the Florentines opted for a combative, free-range black rooster, which was kept on a strict diet to make it even more aggressive.
While the white rooster of Siena slept peacefully and satiated, the black rooster crowed well before dawn and the Florentine knight was able to gain much ground over the rival of the Republic of Siena. And so it would be for a well-fed rooster and a lean and hungry rooster that the Sienese territory of the Chianti Classico is less extensive than the Florentine territory!

willem vandenameele