Monteriggioni

Immersed in the splendid hills of Chianti, at dominion of a stretch of the Cassia between Siena and Florence, Monteriggioni surprises and uncontrollably attracts the traveler, who suddenly discovers, at the top of a green balcony, a crown of gray towers that, surrounded by fields, woods, olive groves, and vineyards, form a fairytale and fantastic setting. Impressive and eloquent example of “walled land”, it is one of the most scenic and best-conserved fortified villages of Tuscany and the entire Peninsula. Founded at the beginning of the 1200’s by the Sienese, the castle of Monteriggioni was crossed by Via Francigena, principle street for communication and trade between Italy and France, and for this, an important strategic outpost, it was more than once involved in bloody local wars between the Sienese and Florentines. The attractive fortified complex has an egg-shaped structure, with a defensive curtain with 14 irregular quadrilateral towers: you would think that there were once more towers and certainly they were taller, based on the description given by Dante, which in Canto XXXI of Inferno he compares them to «horrible giants». Looking at them, these majestic bastions would make you wonder about which treasures are held in the city. An instead, beyond one of the two entrances (Porta Franca and Porta San Giovanni), you will find a tiny and rustic village, whose modest homes make you think about the prevalent role that agriculture must have had in Monteriggioni in the Middle Ages. The only true widening is the picturesque Piazza Roma, from the beautiful pavement on which rise characteristic buildings and the Church of Santa Maria Assunta, in Romanesque-Gothic style and entirely constructed in local stone, while the rest of the inhabited area is nearly absent of other prominent buildings.
Despite the poverty of the monuments, the village, in which only around fifty people live, is very lovely and warm, even because of the presence of boutiques and little restaurants that have conserved an antique appearance and that offer handmade and food-and-wine products typical of the zone.