Il Gallo Nero del Chianti

The black rooster on a gold background is the historic symbol of Chianti Classico.
The mascot has a deep-rooted background which dates to the middle ages when Florence and Siena were chief enemies and tensions between the rival city-states was high. Chianti is the area which falls between the two cities, and thus it was under constant friction as competing claims to the borders were frequent. Eventually the rivals decided to put the matter to rest and define the borders once and for all.
It was decided that one morning, at the stroke of dawn, each city would send forth a knight on horseback towards the border, and the border would be defined as the point where the two riders met. To precisely determine the departure time, the knights were to start their gallop at the call of a rooster. The Senese chose a white rooster, while the Florentines chose a black rooster, which they kept closed in a shed without food or light for days. On the scheduled day the Florentines let free their captive rooster before daybreak and driven by hunger and his enclosure, he crowed before dawn showed its first light. But his crow was the signal for the knight’s departure and the Florentine knight took off towards the border and Siena, thus giving the Florentine a large advantage over the Senese who had to wait for their rooster to call at the first break of dawn.
Given the delay, the two knights met in Fonterutoli, and for this reason almost all of Chianti passed under the control of the Republic of Florence, even before the fall of Siena. After this victory, the black rooster became the symbol of the Chianti League, which was responsible for the administration and defense of the region. Given its political significance, the grand Salone del Cinquecento in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio was decorated with a fresco by Vasari, commemorating the legend.

This post is also available in: Italian French Spanish German Portuguese (Portugal) Russian