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The abbey of San Lorenzo a Coltibuono, known as the Abbey in Coltibuono, was founded in 1049 then transformed into a villa in the last century; it is located in the municipality of Gaiole in Chianti (SI), plunged in a beautiful wooded landscape. After several changes in ownership, today it belongs to the Stucchi Prinetti family, which produces organic wines and oil, and offers cooking classes and wine tasting experiences.

The garden, behind the abbey, still shows the typical medieval design: it’s rectangular and features geometric flower beds bordered by box hedges, orthogonal paths shaded by long vine pergolas, and a rectangular stone basin at the centre. At the bottom of the garden, there’s another formal one and a vegetable patch.

Next to the Abbey, there’s a Lebanon cedar (Cedrus libani), 65.6-ft high with a trunk circumference of 23 ft – it has recently been included in the list of the monumental plants of Tuscany.

The property is surrounded by large forests of silver fir (Abies alba), planted by the monks and then again in the XIX century.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)