The Castle of Gargonza is a fortified agricultural village of medieval origin standing atop a hill in the Valdichiana. At present, the tower, the walls, one gate and the Romanesque church of the 13th-century original nucleus are still to be admired.
Situated in a strategically fundamental position between Valdichiana and the territories governed by Siena, during the Middle Ages the castle, which originally belonged to the Ubertini family, was the object of a bloody struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines.
Dante Alighieri stayed at the castle in the early 14th century. In 1307, the Florentine army besieged the village for a long time. Rumours on the possible arrival of Cardinal Orsini`s army refrained the castle from surrendering.
At the end of the 14th century, in 1381, the Republic of Siena bought the fortified village, but was then forced to give it to Florence four years later. In 1433, the inhabitants of Gargonza rose up against Florence. In order to repress the riots, the Florentine laid waste the entire village, except for the donjon and the tower that can be still admired today.
The Lotterighi della Stufa family acquired the castle in 1546 and at the end of the 17th century the village passed in the hands of the marquis Corsi, who converted it in a farm. The castle took then advantage of the reclamation works in Valdichiana the Grand Duke of Tuscany began in the 18th century.
After World War II Gargonza was abandoned and experience a period of period of decadence. Only in the 1970s had Roberto Guicciardini Corsi Salviati the castle renovated.
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