The Chianti Classico Wine and its Black Rooster: a 600-year-old “logo”

Every company, every organization can’t do without a logo, a symbol to be recognized immediately, placed on  products, websites, letterheads, documents, advertising, labels, wherever possible. It has a strong evocative and commercial power and companies often invest heavily in this graphic representation to which an important industrial design sector is dedicated.

The Black Rooster is the "logo" of the most famous Tuscan wine and you can find it on all the bottles of the producers, about 350, that are part of the Chianti Classico Consortium. One of the oldest professional commercial brands with an interesting history.
The symbol was born as the coat of arms of the Lega del Chianti, a political-military league created by the Florentine Republic in 1384 to defend the borders against Siena, including the current municipalities of Castellina, Gaiole and Radda. If you look up in the Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio, headquarters of Tuscan councils and public meetings, you'll see the 16th century wooden ceiling tiles each representing a Tuscany district. Giorgio Vasari painted the black rooster on the Chianti tile, on a shield next to the figure of Bacchus, god of wine, to underline the relationship between that area and the wine.

In 1716 a law of the Grand Duke Cosimo III dei Medici established that only the wines produced in Castellina, Gaiole and Radda and part of Greve (almost all of today's Chianti Classico territory) - back then already renowned for their quality - could be called "Wines of Chianti". In 1924 the Consortium for the defense of Chianti Wine was founded in Radda, within the boundaries established in 1716. The old symbol of the Chianti League of 1384, a black rooster on a gold field, was adopted as the “logo”. Finally, in 1932, with a ministerial decree, Chianti wine became "Classico", to distinguish the ancient area of ​​origin from other areas.
In 1984 our wine becomes DOCG (Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin) and in 1996, autonomous DOCG with a production disciplinary different from that of other Tuscan wines. Since 2005, the Gallo Nero logo must be also present on every bottle of Classico and since 2007 there must also be an identification number that allows, via internet, to easily trace the producer. A long way for this wine and its black rooster!

But why in 1384 was the black rooster chosen as the emblem of the League and therefore as the future "logo" of the Classico? It was probably due to its bold and warrior nature and the peasant belief that the crowing of the rooster at dawn chased the evil night spirits away. We should also mention the legend, though of dubious origin.
In the Middle Ages Siena and Florence were fighting to conquer the Chianti territory. Eventually, to avoid further bloodshed, they decided to set the border in the place where two knights would meet after leaving at dawn - one from Siena and one from Florence - at the crowing of the rooster. The Sienese gave their rooster a lot to eat to make it crow louder, but the Florentines made it fast. In this way the black Florentine rooster, terribly hungry, began to crow in protest when it was still dark, while the white Sienese rooster, belly stuffed with food, was still sleeping heavily. The Florentine knight heard the rooster crowing and set off at a gallop, while the Sienese kight was still waiting for the bird to wake up. The knights ended up meeting at the Castle of Fonterutoli, a few kilometers from Siena, where the border was set.

Almost all of Chianti territory therefore became Florentine thanks to the hungry black rooster, which consequently became the League symbol.
Photo above: Monument to the black rooster in via Cesare Battisti, Greve in Chianti.