Places to visit

The original installation of Geggiano Villa dates back to 1530. Around 1768, in the occasion of the wedding of Anton Domenico Bianchi Bandinelli with Cecilia Chigi, Malavolti widow, the building was completely transformed in a grand villa with a garden surrounded by a wall and with a greenery theatre. Vittorio Alfi eri, who stayed for short periods at the villa, acted some of his tragedies just in the greenery theatre. In its splendour times the villa has been frequented by Montale, Saba, Guttuso and Stendhal. Recently the villa gave hospitality to the set of the movie "Stealing beauty".

The Pontignano Certosa was founded by Bindo Falcone, nephew of Cardinal Riccardo Petroni, around the half of 1.300. We can only see few traces of the original monastery, as it has been completely rebuilt in the second half of the sixteenth century, after a fi re destroyed most of it. The complex was a rectangular plan articulated, like in Certosa-churches traditional iconography, in three zones: the first was assigned to monks and had twelve cells around the big cloister, the second one was formed by the church and the coenoby, the third was assigned to the lay brothers. The monastic complex has been bought in 1959 by the University of Siena and is used today for study meetings and conventions. The church of Certosa is situated in the centre of a monastery complex with a facade overlooking the cloister of obedience or the converted. Two thirds of the site is occupied by an area destined for monarchs where wooden sculptured plaques (known as stalli, usually mounted behind the choir stalls) created in 1590 by Domenico Atticciati, are hung. The inside is interesting due to the presence of a large alfresco which covers the walls and ceilings and develops an iconographic cycle dating from 1579 with the scenes (Saint Brunone who receives the present from Saint Peter and a joyous Saint Brunone on the entrance wall) painted by Stefano Cassiani. On the walls, there are the stories of Saint Peter and of Saint Brunone separated by fi gures of saints, evangelists and priests of the church; on the ceilings, you will see stories of the Virgin, the Passion of Christ and Saint John the Baptist. The paintings are generally attributed to Poccetti but they were also managed by artists in his circle, Orazio Porta and the artists from Siena, Alessandro Casolani and Vincenzo Rustici The monastery complex was acquired in 1959 by the University of Siena and is now used for courses and conventions.

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.

The construction of the actual church is due to the initiative of the Count Alessandro Saracini. His family owned up to the end of 1700 the church Saint Giusto, situated outside of the habitat, and the oratory of Saint Clemente, situated inside the medieval nucleus of Castelnuovo Berardenga. The same family Saracini demolished the first after their blessing was removed on the 30 June 1779, the other was also demolished to then be rebuilt as a noble chapel in the complex of the villa Chigi Saracini. The Saracini family committed, along with the community of Castelnuovo, to build at their own expense a new church dedicated to the Saints Giusto and Clemente. The construction, undertaken in 1843 under the supervision of Agostino Fantastici, was fi nished in 1846. The family maintained the ownership of the new church and had exclusive use of the chapel. Placed near to the entrance, was the altar entitled the Madonna of the Rosary, to which was transferred a tablet, the central part of a triptych by Giovanni di Paolo (1426) representing the Madonna of the Rosary, already in the oratory of Saint Clemente. The church housed some other paintings one of which being a canvas representing a Deposition by Alessandro Casolari and a Sacra Famiglia (Sacred Family) by Francesco Nasini painted on one of the four confessionals inserted in the niches in brickwork.

The Civic Tower or Clock Tower was originally part of Castelnuovo defensive system. In 1526 the "new" castle was been forti- fi ed and seven towers were built. Only one of them is still there, the current Civic Tower. The first clock was placed in 1763. From the top of the restored tower you can watch a magnifi cent view ranging from Crete to Chianti.

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.

Villa Chigi Saracini has been built up on the initiative of Count Galgano Saracini who wanted a great decorum house for his family, with a large park to make the most of it. Building the new complex produced a radical alteration of the main urban order, since a big part of castle-walls was been pulled down. The complex (villa-chapel-park) has been carried out between 1820 and 1840 and is partly attributed to Agostino Fantasici. The way the park now looks like is due to Count Guido Saracini, great music lover and founder of Chigiana Music Accademy.

The villa and park of Monaciano is still today the centre of a vast estate that dates back to the seventeenth century. The actual layout is the result of a unitary project to transform the complex, completed in the second half of the 1800's by the owner Alessandro Pucci Sansedoni. The garden, which is circa three hectares, occupies a sloping space from the villa towards the countryside and is divided in to two parts, notably very different. The first destined for fl owers and water features, the second, in the lower part, makes up a romantic park with large woodland areas laid out with sinuous paths. The park has been restored over the last few years and documented in a small photographic exhibition open to the public, which has put together the greenery and the existing manufactured objects to create a contemporary element represented by a theatrical backdrop of greenery, installed in the lower part of the park.

According to information reported by Merletti, the church of Saints Peter and Paul in Canonica a Cerreto was probably founded in 1093 by a member of the Antolini family. In a lien granted by Urbano III in 1186 the “rectory” in Cerreto was the property of the canons of the cathedral in Siena. In the Lists of Tenths of the late thirteenth century and early fourteenth century it still appears as a rectory; the premises of a religious community headed by a prior. From the late thirteenth century and the early fourteenth century onwards the rectory appears under the jurisdiction of the Cerretani, the lords of the castle with the same name, and the surrounding area. In 1598 it was declared a forane vicariate by the archbishop of Siena. In 1794 the church was reconsecrated following substantial restoration and modernization. On the left hand side stands a Romanesque bell-tower which is square in plan.
During a pastoral visit in 1575, the canonical house appeared to be in good condition. At the end of the eighteenth century the rectory was also renovated, together with the church. The oldest structures in view, which probably date back to the late Middle Ages, are situated in the north easterly prospect.

The “Museo del Paesaggio” or Landscape Museum, is based on a single concept: to invite the visitor to reflect on the transformations in the world, as well as on the way in which man understands or may understand the world itself, whilst taking cues from the significance given each time to the term “landscape”. This is possible thanks to the very distinctive nature of the landscape: a concept that whilst indicating both the “thing” and “the image of the thing”, conducts one to examine the relationship between reality and its representation. The landscape becomes the subject of many working routes: through history, art, scientific research, agriculture, etc.
The route through the exhibition naturally takes advantage of single examples of landscapes, chosen from those that are particularly significant of the phenomenon that is to be highlighted each time. Amongst these single cases those drawn from the province of Siena have a predominant role. Thus the provincial territory becomes the opportunity to initiate a discussion that is nevertheless universal.

Today the Museum houses an archaeological section that is the result of years of archaeological digs, research and study by the Tuscan Archaeological Heritage Office, and the valuable collaboration of the A.C.R.A.S.A. association of Castelnuovo, within the sphere of the project named “Gli Etruschi di Bosco Le Pici” or The Etruscans of the Le Pici Wood. The exhibition includes materials of different workmanship and includes pottery and metals; the objects may be well preserved or damaged, but are just as equally fascinating.