TENUTA DI PIAN DEL LAGO
The farm covers a 120 hectare area touching both the northern
part of the Siena township and the southern part of the Monteriggioni
township. The land has been in the family since the 1500s when
a large portion of the fields was covered by the swamps that
gave the area its name, Pian del Lago (Plain of the Lake). The
family’s entrepreneurial nature spurred an ancestor of
ours to drain the swamp. In order to accomplish his goal he
ordered the construction of a building which became known as
la Fabbrica di Pian del Lago (the Factory of the Plain of the
Lake). The large building was erected to provide sufficient
housing for a congruent number of workers employed for the canalization
and draining of the swamp. The workload turned out to be extremely
imposing and to have higher costs than foreseen, causing Francesco
Bindi Sergardi’s wife to give to the Monte dei Paschi
di Siena (today a worldwide bank) all her belongings as a warrant
for her husband’s debts. The Great Duke of Tuscany, Pietro
Leopoldo, decided to build a monument with the Bindi Sergardi
name in order to celebrate the historic event, while in the
surrounding area a new saying still in use today was coined:
“Good Bindi Sergardi, POOR Bindi Sergardi”. The
lands on the plain, which proved to be extremely fertile, for
centuries were planted with wheat. The last generation of owners
has, however, decided to make a different use of the fields,
establishing there a thoroughbred horse stud farm, Razza del
Pian del Lago (Breed of the Plain of the Lake). This stud farm,
hosting both our own and clients’ horses, has rapidly
become one of the most important in Italy and has recently extended
its operations to Ireland where the purchase of a 90 hectare
farm, Gallow Paddocks, permits business on a global scale.
