A dominant 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).
An ancient story
It is the story of the Counts Placidi, however, that most closely ties in with that of the Castle. This family of Sienese nobles with important government positions in the city came into possession of it during the fifteenth century as a reward for distinguishing themselves during the wars of the Republic of Siena against Florence. Later, and on two different occasions, the property was confiscated from them by the Republic itself and entrusted to the “Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala”: in 1483, with the expulsion of the Noveschi-the party supported by the Placidi-and in 1487 -when the Placidi were declared rebels. In 1529, however, the Counts regained possession of the castle and from then on ruled undisturbed until 1959, when Poggio alle Mura was purchased by Giovanni Mastropaolo, an Italian entrepreneur who had made his fortune in South America.
