La Fattoria di San Quintino is located on the top of a hill, 45 minutes from Florence and Pisa and 15 minutes from the township of San Miniato, homeland to the famous white truffle.


The estate now comprises 200 hectares (400 acres), with 18 hectares in vineyards, the remainder covered by olive groves, wheat fields and woodland where the precious white truffle is found.

When leaving San Miniato, after a short journey, you'll gaze at the massive San Quintino hill; the name of this French saint acknowledges the nearby course of the Via Francigena.

At present, approximately 50% of the vineyards have been replanted and it will take another five years to complete the process. By that time the productive capacity will reach 160000 bottles. Modern equipment has been added in the wine cellar, together with special rooms with temperature and humidity control for barrel ageing and bottle storage.

Three generations of our family work at the farm. During harvest and olive picking seasons, a loyal and lively group of local workers come to help us as well.

In 1946, Roberto and Mirella Cecchi bought a group of poderi or field plots in San Quintino. Several sharecroppers and their families lived on the poderi, each being a self-sufficient system that usually comprised a vineyard, olive trees, fields to grow wheat and forage for animals.

Since 1960, farmers started to migrate from the countryside into the cities to work in factories. In 1967, the Fattoria di San Quintino was born: the wine cellar was transferred from its original location to a new building, with the first vintage being 1971. Still today during the annual harvest some of the old sharecroppers with their families come to San Quintino to keep the memory alive and enjoy the unchanged panorama.

In ancient times, the hilltop was the site of the castle or castelletto of San Quintino with its historical records dating back to the eleventh century. Although the castle played a prominent role in the wars between city states over the next centuries, from the sixteenth century a single tower containing the gate to the castle was the single relic.

The castle and later the Roffia Villa were the focal points of a small farming community that even at its most flourishing amounted to hardly more than 150 people. San Quintino's wines and olive oil were renowned since ancient times (since at least 1508, according to Vatican records).

On the hill of San Quintino there once stood one of the many medieval fortified castles of the area.

On a map drawn in the late sixteenth century the original structure is still visible: still standing on the hill were the "gate of the Castle of San Quintino", with the large residence of the Roffia, an important family with origins in San Miniato. This huge square structure can be seen today included in the western part of the Villa Cecchi, of more recent construction.