Experience Tuscany

During the Holiday season there is nothing more romantic than to visit castles and beautiful country villages in Tuscany. The little town of Campagnatico offers both. With just one day trip you will be able to have a full and rich experience of this portion of Tuscany, its history and culinary traditions.
Campagnatico itself includes several interesting spots to be visited. Since the town was a fortified hamlet, the walling is still very much present and visible. In some parts the walls have been surpassed and covered by houses, which give the real sense of history and the passing of time. Like many other medieval dwellings, the walls present doors in the four cardinal directions, of which one pointing south to Rome, and one to north, towards France. The church of Saint John the Baptist was built at a later stage compared with the walls, and uses one of the many crenelated defense towers as its belfry. Opposite the church is the Rocca Aldobrandeschi, of which only ruins remain to these days.
The surroundings of Campagnatico also include other fortresses and castles to visit.
The Monte Leoni castle is one of these. Its existence is certified in documents of 1188. After a quite unresting history, the Pannocchieschi family conquered it in 1262. Soon after the castle was abandoned and started going into ruins. Unfortunately to these days only ruins of it are left as the legacy of a glorious past. Definitely worth a visit for those who want to have the real feel of the passage of time.
Not far from Monte Leoni is the castle of Stertignano, another building that has not stood the toll of time and is now in ruins. Nevertheless, it is worth a visit to realize the building characteristics, such wall thickness and materials used, of the castles of this area. Needdless to say, here one breathes the disgraced history that characterized this castle, that passed through the hands of many important families from 1274 onwards to be abandoned in 1370 and returned to the countryside in 1438 by the state of Siena.
Finally the most important castle is Montorsaio, today blossomed into a hamlet of greater proportions than the usual fortress. The location is wonderfully set on a hill covered with woods. It is a very ancient castle, as documents mention it already during the 8th century. Just like the other two castles, Montorsaio belonged to many powerful families, however all under the dominion of Siena, which reinforced the bastion with a newly made keep. After other passages of property the Medici got hold of the castle in the 16th century. The more strategic importance of the castle explains why throughout the centuries it has been maintained, reinforced and preserved, saving it from the ruin like its neighboring fortresses.

Here the map of the area with the three castles:

View Campagnatico and Its Surrounding Castles in a larger map

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