About us

The History of Knight Frank Tuscany

To learn more about the origins of Knight Frank Tuscany we must go back to 1988, when Bill Thomson, a 28-year-old agricultural economics graduate from Wye College (then part of the University of London), moved to Italy with the intention of learning the wine-making process and working for a while in a small winery. Since that time many things have changed, culminating in the success and prestige that still characterize the estate agency in Tuscany and around the world!

The birth of Chianti Estates

During his time in Italy, Bill realized that there was a gap in the market for property management services in an area that would later experience the “Chiantishire” boom. Thus, a one-man business was born in 1988 that saw Bill driving around Chianti in pickup trucks with his dog, trying to help non-resident owners of farmhouses take care of them while they were away. Mowing the grass, cleaning pools, opening the house to check on it: mainly property care and maintenance. One of these owners, one day, announced that she wanted to sell her house and asked Bill to get in touch with “one of London's upscale agents” to help her sell her house. And so Chianti Estates was born, later renamed Knight Frank Tuscany, the first Italian branch of Knight Frank.

From management to sales

It is unbelievable to think back to those days, but back then there were no international real estate agencies. If you wanted to buy a house in Italy, you would go to the place, find a local agent in the village, and he would show the house. Even when Chianti Estates, now Knight Frank Tuscany, was born, buying a farmhouse meant writing by mail to arrange a trip and then meeting at a reasonable place, since there were no cell phones. The first version of our Italian View magazine had photos of the house, developed one by one in the pharmacy, individually attached to the pages! 

The office at that time was located in the small village of Rietine, in the middle of Chianti, in what had been a long-gone village store. Our secretary worked part-time, and we had to travel all the way to the next village to photocopy anything (but it was always a good excuse for an espresso). The business grew at a flourishing time for home buying in Italy. At that time, the only properties we sold were farmhouses in remote areas -the more remote the better. These places had no electricity or running water and had been abandoned by locals in the 1950s, during the great exodus to the main cities to find work.

The property management business grew in parallel with the sales business. We took on restoration projects for foreign buyers and over the years helped save many really dilapidated but beautiful buildings. We worked with architects and designers from all over the world and with clients from all corners of the globe.

The birth of Knight Frank Tuscany.

We opened the first Knight Frank Tuscany office in Florence in 2006. It was to be the sales office of a development project, the first of its kind. Over time, we have seen an increasing shift of people from Chianti farmhouses to more sophisticated living, whether in or near a city. The country market, however, is still strong, and we recently opened the Knight Frank Tuscany branch in Radda in Chianti!

The Knight Frank brand in Italy.

During the same period, we also began to grow our network of Knight Frank offices throughout Italy: Lucca, then Venice, Sardinia, Val d'Orcia, Milan, Rome, Como, Elba, Maremma-and the list of places where we are present continues to grow. Trends come and go, so we are always looking for the next destination.

Knight Frank has thus been present in Italy for more than 30 years and employs about 100 people throughout the country. Some of these people are still involved in the property management business, which has continued to be in high demand.

Over time, Bill has gone from being the young new kid on the block to being something of a father figure in Italian real estate (some might even say grandfather!). Knight Frank has maintained its prestige throughout, carrying out its goal of “helping people buy and sell homes.” And that is the same goal Knight Frank Tuscany has, selling and managing the finest luxury properties in Tuscany since 1988.