Castello di Poppiano, Medieval castle in Montespertoli, Italy.
Castello di Poppiano stands on a hill at Poppiano, in Montespertoli, surrounded by its old borgo. The castle has an L-shaped plan, with a small tower at the junction of the two wings, and was once ringed by a triple circuit of walls. Its crenellated first floor was built in the 19th century in Neo-Gothic style, reached by a stone staircase on the south side; a small limonaia sits beneath the terrace embankment.
The fortress was first recorded in written documents during 1199, when it already belonged to the Guicciardini family. Major repairs following an earthquake in the early 1800s introduced Gothic Revival architectural elements that remain visible today.
The name Poppiano may come from the Roman gens Papia or Poppea. In the chapel on the square in front of the villa, built in 1930, the altar holds a Gloria di San Nicola di Bari painted in 1640 by Giovanni Martinelli for Count Francesco di Gualtierotto Guicciardini, in grey-blue tones.
The castle is a private Guicciardini residence, so visits are not open to the public; the stone staircase on the south side belongs to the building itself. The chapel of 1930 stands on the square in front of the villa, and the small limonaia lies beneath the terrace embankment.
The chapel in the square in front of the villa dates from 1930 and holds on its altar a canvas of the Glory of Saint Nicholas of Bari, painted in 1640 by Giovanni Martinelli for Count Francesco di Gualtierotto Guicciardini. Its grey-blue tones mark a shift from the artist's earlier Caravaggist manner.
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