position
Its strategic location between Siena and the Maremma, and the fertile land surrounding it, have made the Castle of Poggio alle Mura a coveted and hotly contested property for centuries.
The complex developed mostly between the 9th and 13th centuries, but its origin is certainly earlier. Some dungeons dug into the tufa and still visible, as well as some stone urns and ceramic vessels found during the last restoration, suggest, in fact, the existence of a settlement already in Etruscan times. The white stone ashlars typically used in the construction of Roman arches inserted in the entrance arch seem, however, to testify to a later transformation into a Roman villa.
The first official mention is in 1318, the year in which Poggio alle Mura appears within the descriptive cadastre of the time-the Tavola delle Possessioni"-as administratively included in the Curia of Camigliano and belonging to the heirs of Messer Mino di Neri dei Ranuccini. Later, with the passage from the Ranuccini family to the Colombini family, the estate passed from the stage of open settlement of a fortified estate (palatium seu fortelitia).
