Special offer Villa Minghetti - September 2011

Villa Minghetti at only € 1.500 per week (instead of € 2.000) from 3rd to 17th September!
In the heart of Tuscany, on the Montalbano's hills, Villa Minghetti makes you experience the atmosphere of old times. Splendid 17th century country house dominating the village of Lamporecchio, Villa Minghetti is surrounded by centuries-old olive groves. Thanks to the recent and careful restoration, personally carried out by the owner, the villa is free on three sides and is composed of spacious living room, kitchen with fireplace, bathroom and laundry room on the ground floor. The living room has direct access to the garden where the swimming pool is located. The first floor consists of six bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms. From the bedrooms, well furnished with antiques, you can enjoy a stunning view over the valley.

Villa Minghetti is an ideal starting point for horse riding, hiking and biking excursions. For those who love art and culture, it is easy to explore the delightful countryside of Tuscany, rich in ancient towns like Vinci, Cerreto Guidi, San Miniato, or the most famous cities such as Florence, Siena, Pisa, Lucca.

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A Dantesque Castle

Standing high on the summit of Mount Ala, Monteriggioni Castle dominates the Sienese territory proudly and boldly, like a sentry guarding the ancient republic. With its elliptically-shaped boundary wall and its 15 towers, witnesses of a distant age, the fortress still preserves its link with history and the peasant culture, as if time had stopped still.
The castle was built by the Sienese between 1213 and 1219 following an order of the podestà Guelfo da Porcari, who wanted to acquire a strategic position to gain control over the Via Cassia and the Elsa and Staggia valleys in the direction of Florence.
The object of contention between the Sienese and the Florentines during the endless battles between the two cities ever since its construction, Monteriggioni remained long unconquered; the reason for this is that the carbonaie (coal-filled ditches), dug along the boundary wall and burnt during the enemy attacks, made the fortress an impenetrable defensive bastion.
The castle’s imposing and majestic nature did not escape the keen eye of Dante Alighieri, who used it to convey the enormous size of the three giants Nembrotto, Fialte and Anteo, chained in the eighth circle of the malebolge, where those guilty of fraud were condemned, in Canto XXXI of the Inferno. The poet mistakes the three giants for the towers of a fortified city in the line, “for just as on the encircling wall Montereggioni is crowned by towers, so upon the rim which encircles the well”. The comparison between the giants and the ramparts of the Monteriggioni boundary wall is all too clear. However, this is not the only reference to the castle in Dante’s Divine Comedy. In Canto XIII of Purgatory, in fact, he mentions it as he speaks of the battle of Colle di Val d'Elsa (1269), during which the Sienese, defeated, took refuge in the fortress, besieged but once again unconquered by their Florentine enemies. Sapia Salvani, the aunt of the Sienese general, voices her regret at having prayed for the defeat of her fellow citizens with the words: “my fellow citizens near unto Colle were joined in battle with their adversaries, and I was praying to God for what he willed”. The Florentine troops’ attempts at invading the fortress would be finally met with success in 1554, following the betrayal of Captain Zeti, which led to the surrender of Siena once and for all. The Captain’s gesture was so sensational that, still today, his soul cannot find peace. It is for this reason that Dante described Monteriggioni as an “infernal city”: the damned soul of the Captain, forever regretting his actions and eternally imprisoned, still hovers about the walls of the castle.

(Portions of this article first appeared in "Toscana & Chianti News")

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