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Stemma di Greve in Chianti

Tuscany · Firenze

Greve in Chianti

The market town on the Greve river, with a triangular piazza arcaded since the sixteenth century.

Known for

  • CHIANTI CLASSICO

    The wine zone was redrawn in 1932 to center on this market town, whose black-rooster seal marks bottles from castle estates on the surrounding hills.

  • PIAZZA MATTEOTTI

    Triangular arcaded square from the sixteenth century, with the Verrazzano statue at its center and the Saturday market spreading under the porticoes.

  • VERRAZZANO

    Giovanni da Verrazzano was born here in 1485 and sailed for France into New York Bay in 1524, fifty years before Hudson.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J10°
  • F12°
  • M14°
  • A17°
  • M22°
  • J27°
  • J31°
  • A31°
  • S26°
  • O20°
  • N15°
  • D11°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

Why come

Greve sits in the Val di Greve, thirty-one kilometers south of Firenze and forty-two north of Siena, on the small fast river that gave the town its name. The valley narrows here enough that the road to Firenze runs past the castle estates on the slopes to the north before dropping into the town itself, and the walled hamlet above Greve looks down on the piazza from its kilometer of higher ground, a settlement some centuries older than the square below it, its tenth-century walls predating the piazza's sixteenth-century arcades. The piazza is the point around which the rest of the town organizes itself: shops and a market under the arcades, a rebuilt church closing its south end, and the roads out toward the castles and the hamlet all beginning at its edges.

The Saturday market fills the piazza. The wine festival in early September empties the surrounding cellars into glasses for three days. What holds the place together is the geography more than any single monument: a market town at a river crossing, ringed by the vineyard slopes and the older hill settlement that all feed into the same triangular square.

We've been

Feature from our free newsletter

Road to Siena | The Long Way Is the Better Way

The wine is the whole economy of these hills, every village with its own, the region’s name stamped on the most famous red in Italy. Tuscan food runs to cured and roasted meat, so the wine ran red to meet it, lighter than you expect, almost fruity, easy, made to sit beside a steak and not to be lectured about. Here is the only wine knowledge you need on this road: it is all good.

From the Greve in Chianti letter, July 2026

Read the full feature on anywhereitaly.com

How to get there

From Bologna (BLQ), about 1h 46m by car.

Florence / Pisa (PSA) is about 1h 52m away.

By car from the centre of Florence 44 minutes, Siena 1h 11m or Pisa 1h 46m.

Coming by train into Firenze Santa Maria Novella? Greve in Chianti is about 50 minutes away by road.

Every town within reach of Bologna airport.

Greve in Chianti — photo 1
Greve in Chianti — photo 2

What to see

  • Piazza Matteotti

    The arcades shelter wine shops, butchers and pasticcerie, wrapped around the irregular triangle of paving with the navigator's bronze figure watching the center.

  • Chiesa di Santa Croce

    Neoclassical parish church on the south point of the piazza, rebuilt in the nineteenth century after earthquake damage.

  • Castello di Verrazzano

    Vineyard estate on the hills north of town, producing Chianti Classico on slopes tied to the family name that reached New York Bay.

  • Castello di Vicchiomaggio

    Eleventh-century Longobard castle on the road to Firenze, still producing Chianti Classico from surrounding vineyards.

  • Montefioralle

    Tenth-century walled hamlet a kilometer above Greve, member of the Borghi più belli network, with concentric streets around a single church.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Greve in Chianti fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

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We recommend

Where to eat

Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.

Signature product

Chianti Classico DOCGDOCG

Sangiovese-dominant; one of nine Chianti Classico communes between Florence and Siena.

See the towns we cover in the zone of Chianti Classico DOCG.

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

Living here

  • Population 13,322
  • In-betweeni
  • Pharmacy in town
  • Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
  • Nearest airport Bologna, 1 h 46 min drive
  • Regional capital Firenze, 44 min drive

Common questions

What is Greve in Chianti known for?
Greve in Chianti is the market town on the Greve river, with a triangular piazza arcaded since the sixteenth century.
Where is Greve in Chianti?
Greve in Chianti is a comune in the province of Firenze, in Tuscany, at 236 meters above sea level.
What is the nearest airport to Greve in Chianti?
Bologna (BLQ), about 1h 46m by car.
How long is the drive from Florence to Greve in Chianti?
About 44 minutes by car.
When is the best time to visit Greve in Chianti?
Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 16 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Greve in Chianti?
Yes. Expo Chianti Classico. September is when the first of them falls.
Which other towns are like Greve in Chianti?
Castelnuovo Berardenga, Castellina in Chianti and Barberino di Mugello.
How many people live in Greve in Chianti?
13,322 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 236 m
  • Population: 13,322
  • Surface area: 169.38 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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Greve in Chianti appears on 2 themed picks from our Collections:

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