Lega del Chianti or the Chianti League was an administrative, political and military alliance between Castellina in Chianti, Radda in Chianti and Gaiole in Chianti, all within the then medieval state of Florence. Its southern border with Siena was Gaiole in Chianti until Siena’s defeat in 1555. The Chianti Classico’s emblem is the Black Rooster on a gold background. 

Legend has it that the black rooster, initially signifying the whole of the Chianti and now indicating the Chianti Classico DOCG, was chosen for the following reason. In the Middle Ages when Siena and Florence were fierce rivals and wished to locate the boundary between them, it was decided that two knights would set out on horseback from their respective hometowns at cockcrow and where they met would be the boundary.

The Sienese chose a beautiful white rooster, raised sleek and fat with the idea that it would loudly wake their knight at dawn; the Florentines, on the other hand, provided their knight with an underfed black rooster. On the day of the race, the black rooster was so hungry he began to crow even before sunrise, causing the knight to set out much earlier than his counterpart, whom he met at Fonterutoli, near Castellina in Chianti – a mere 12 km fron Siena.  In this way, almost all of the Chianti was under the role of the Florentine Republic and the black rooster much celebrated.

Towards the end of the 14th-century the Lega del Chianti or Chianti League, a political and military alliance was created to administer and defend the Chianti territory for Florence. The league’s coat of arms featured the black rooster on a field of gold, a symbol still associated with the Chianti Classico DOCG region today.

Bibliography

See Bill Nesto and Frances Di Savino, ‘Chianti Classico –The Search for Tuscany’s Noblest Wine‘ (University Press) p.6-7, 18, 46, 50, 97.