The Castle of Verrazzano is located about a mile from the center of

Greve in Chianti Greve in Chianti (the old name was Greve; in 1972 it was renamed Greve in Chianti after the inclusion of that area in the Chianti wine district) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy. It is lo ...

in Italy, and sits on a mountain spur above the River Greve. The castle dates back to an

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities ** Etrusca ...

, and then Roman, settlement. The Verrazzano family held the castle for centuries and the navigator

Giovanni da Verrazzano Giovanni da Verrazzano ( , , often misspelled Verrazano in English; 1485–1528) was an Italian ( Florentine) explorer of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France. He is renowned as the first European to explore the Atlanti ...

is said to have been born there in 1485. The last Verrazzano died in 1819, and the property passed through various wealthy Florentine families before coming to the Cappellinis. A monument in New York City at the

Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( ) is a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. It spans the Narrows, a body of water linking the relatively enclosed New York Harbor with Lower New York Bay and t ...

, which was named after Giovanni, includes three stones that were carved from the ancient wall of the castle.

References

{{Authority control Castles in Tuscany