By 2024, Banca Monte dei Paschi must sell Poggio Bonelli. Or sell it to the Bank of Italy

“Disposal of non-strategic shareholdings: the Parent Bank will have to dispose of its shareholdings in Visa, Bancomat, Veneto Sviluppo, Mps Tenimenti Poggio Bonelli and Chigi Saracini Spa and Immobiliare Novoli Spa by December 31, 2024 or, alternatively, it will have to dispose of its shareholding in Banca d’Italia”: this is one of the commitments made by Banca Monte dei Paschi with the European Union, related to the state aid it received in 2017, which the Siena-based bank must complete by December 2024, according to the “Monte dei Paschi di Siena Group Half-Yearly Financial Report June 30, 2024”, published in recent days. And if a buyer is not found (there is no further comment from the Sienese bank on alleged or initiated negotiations, ed.), then, the ownership of the historic Chianti Classico estate, Poggio Bonelli, in Castelnuovo Berardenga, and the Azienda Agricola Chigi Saracini (which fall under Mps Tenimenti, whose president, since 2023, is Mauro Rosati, who also heads Qualivita, and is 100% controlled by Banca Monte dei Paschi Spa, ed.), could pass, at least temporarily, under the aegis of the Bank of Italy, marking, however, the exit from the wine and agricultural production scene of Italy’s oldest bank, after the sale, which began in 2008, of Fontanafredda, first to a venture led by the Mps Foundation (36%) along with entrepreneurs Oscar Farinetti and Luca Baffigo (each 32%), with the same foundation then selling its shares in Fontanafredda to the other two partners in 2012.
And now, therefore, it will be the turn of Poggio Bonelli, a historic agricultural estate with 835 hectares of land on the border between Chianti Classico (with 17 hectares of vineyards), Chianti Colli Senesi (41 hectares) and 30 hectares in Igt Toscana. With a peculiar history, as stated on the winery’s website: “a property coveted by the most important Sienese families, Poggio Bonelli has had several owners over the centuries: owned by the ancient Spennali family in the Middle Ages, in the second half of the 16th century it passed into the hands of the illustrious Piccolomini family. Later, throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, probably by dynastic means, it became the permanent property of the Croci and Landucci family. The history of the noble lineages, which contributed to the birth of this heritage of very ancient origins, ends with the prestigious Chigi Saracini family. Count Guido Chigi Saracini was the last and only heir of the estate that included the “Fattorie”. Born in Siena in 1880, he was a prominent figure in the city for the many offices he held. In addition to his great love for his estate in Castelnuovo Berardenga, where he spent the milder seasons, he was passionate about music, which is why in 1932 he founded the Accademia Chigiana Senese, a center of high musical education of international importance that is still active today and engaged in many projects. The Count died in 1965, leaving Fattorie Chigi Saracini in the hands of Mps Tenimenti, the agricultural company of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena.