Dr. Antonio Tamanti’s purchase on Montosoli
Capanna, the Cencioni family’s Brunello estate on the Montosoli hill north of Montalcino, was a Tamanti farm in the nineteenth century. Dr. Antonio Tamanti bought it in 1839; Giuseppe Cencioni bought it, abandoned after the great freeze, in 1957. Le Chiuse and the Madonna del Piano farm lie within 600 metres.
The Tamanti years
In 1820 Capanna belonged to the Brunacci: the Scarnaquoja owner register gives parcels 1 to 38 to the brothers, sons of Cosimo, with the Capanna farmhouse at parcel 6 and its threshing floor at parcel 4. By 1832 the tithe book calls it “Cappanna Brunacci ora Tamanti”, and it is one of the nine Tamanti farms in Scrivani’s tables of 1841. The “ora Tamanti” must be a later note, because the sale came in 1839. By a deed of 6 December 1839, drawn by the Montalcino notary Mario Costanti, the guardians of the young Stanislao Brunacci Corsetti sold Dr. Antonio Tamanti the podere della Capanna, with the woods called the Macchie del Battellolio, together with the neighbouring Madonna del Piano farm and the San Pietro mill, for 3,759 scudi in all; the Capanna share was valued at 1,032 scudi. A court notice clearing the farms of the Brunacci mortgages was printed in the Gazzetta di Firenze in 1847.
The Tamanti past of the farm was still remembered more than a century later. An American wine guide of 1984 opens its Capanna entry with the words “A. Tamanti discovered the vines around the 1700’s”. The date is wrong, but the name shows that the story was still being told in the 1980s.
How it left the Tamanti
Very probably by sale from the heirs of Avv. Giuseppe Tamanti, Dr. Antonio’s grandson: the Florence succession papers of Giuseppe’s son Gianfrancesco show that in 1951–52 the heirs still held the Capanna, with the neighbouring Madonna del Piano and Canalicchio farms. In 1957 Giuseppe Cencioni, a sharecropper who wanted to work his own land, “bought with great sacrifice the Capanna farm, with 25 hectares of woods and fields, abandoned”, after the freeze of 1956. He bottled his first Brunello in 1964 and was among the founders of the Consorzio del Brunello. The land register confirms Giuseppe Cencioni as owner in 1971 and the passing of the farm to his family in 1987. The Cencioni still own it, and all its vineyards are on the Montosoli hill.
Timeline
- 1820 The Brunacci brothers, Scarnaquoja parcels 1–38; farmhouse at parcel 6.
- 1832 “Cappanna Brunacci ora Tamanti”.
- 1839 Dr. Antonio Tamanti buys Capanna and the Macchie, with Madonna del Piano, from the Brunacci guardians (deed of 6 December).
- 1847 A court notice clears the farms of the Brunacci mortgages.
- 1951–52 Still held by the heirs of Avv. Giuseppe Tamanti, who very probably sold it to the Cencioni.
- 1957 Giuseppe Cencioni buys Capanna.
- 1964 First Capanna Brunello.
- 1987 The farm passes to the Cencioni family, who hold it today.
What may survive
The Cencioni are the family most likely to remember who owned the farm before 1957, and the “A. Tamanti” story printed in 1984 probably came from the family itself.
More on this story: Montosoli in Tamanti Poderi.
Sources
Luisa Scrivani, 1841 census tables; Don Antonio Brandi, Studi e Trascrizioni (1832 tithe book); Gazzetta di Firenze, 1847, “Avviso per purgazione d’ipoteche” (Brunacci sales of 29 November and 6 December 1839, notary Mario Costanti); Catasto Generale della Toscana (1820), Montalcino, Scarnaquoja owner register, parcels 1–38; Regione Toscana and Agenzia delle Entrate map services; Capanna, “Storia della nostra famiglia”, and other estate histories; Berberoğlu, World of Wines, Spirits and Beers (1984); historical land-register extract, Foglio 62, particella 9.
This page is independent family-history research by Palazzo Tamanti, drawn from the Palazzo Tamanti storybook (October 2026). It is not written or endorsed by the winery. All Montalcino winery origin stories · Tamanti family history.