02 May 2010

Montegiachi Fort-building is located on an embankment over the top of the hill, that dominates the surrounding valley. It was built here on behalf of Antonio Maria of Checco Cinughi, ances one of the Cinghi Counts' several properties in Castelnuovo territory. It has certainly been built before 1522, when Antonio Maria, in his will, left the Villa to his sons Valerio and Alessandro. In 1827, after a careful survey on the villa and outhouses, some parts of the building have been restored.

Fond of country life, Mario Fanetti opened in 2000 his "country life path", transforming outhouses of Podere Le Barbocce in the "Zave Museum", an ethnographic collection exposition. Zave is the nickname for Zaverio Nepi, known for having provided several times and led oxen for the "carroccio" of the historical procession at the Palio in Siena. He was the métayer who lived in Barbocce Farmhouse, leading it for about 70 years. He passed away few years ago, and many personal belongings and rural tools exposed were of his property. The collector, who is the museum owner, leads people in the different locations and sections, commenting the exposition.

The first mention of the locality of Selvole is in 1070 but the fi rst explicit signs of the presence of a castle go back to 1127 and 1158. It was the main site for a local noble family, the Lambardi, whose representatives became part of the dominant class in the Siena Council in the first half of the twelfth century. In 1230, it was assailed and destroyed by the Florentine's and in 1262 the council established that the taxes paid by the men in that community should be used to reconstruct the castle. In the following ten years it seems that the frustrating role of settlement was always less effective because in the Table of the Possessions of 1317-18, the castle is listed in the possessions of the Malavolti family, as an open village. It belonged to the same family, the Malavolti up until the 1960's. The church San Martino is praised by the mayor of Poggibonsi in 1203. The religious patronage of the Malavolti family is documented up until the fourteenth century. For a certain period, it was united to that of Cerreto, successively returned under the parish church Asciata. The interior, completely plastered, presents some tombstones of the Malavolti family. The far wall is painted with a fresco's that present a scene of the life of Saint Martino, dated 1891.