Property for sale in Tuscany

Description

The village of Montisi is situated in the Asso Valley, between Montalcino and Sinalunga, on a hill rich in olive-groves and vineyards. It is a picturesque medieval village, built around the castle, become in the 13C grancia (granary) of the Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala.

Province

Siena (SI)

The picturesque city is an important cultural centre and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is especially known for its celebrated Palio delle contrade, a horse race held twice a year, in which each horse and rider represent one of the seventeen contrade.
Siena's university, founded in 1203 and famed for its faculties of law and medicine, is still among the most important Italian universities. Siena is also the home of Siena Jazz School, which hosts the summer Jazz Concert.

According to legend, Siena was founded by Senius, son of Remus, who was in turn the brother of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Statues and other artwork depicting a she-wolf suckling the young twins Romulus and Remus can be seen all over the city of Siena.
Siena was an Etruscan settlement and a small Roman town, the seat of a Christian bishop by the 5th century, but its importance began in the early 12th century, when a self-governing commune replaced the earlier aristocratic government.
Siena's republic, struggling internally between nobles and the popular party, usually worked in political opposition to its great rival, Florence, and was in the 13th century predominantly Ghibelline in opposition to Florence's Guelph position.
Siena rivalled Florence in the arts through the 13th and 14th centuries: the important late medieval painter Duccio (1253–1319) was a Senese but worked across the peninsula. Siena was devastated by the Black Plague of 1348 and never recovered its earlier glory, losing out to Florence in inter-urban rivalry. Siena retained its independence in Tuscany until 1557.

Siena's cathedral, the Duomo, begun in the 12th century, is one of the great examples of Italian gothic architecture. Its main facade was completed in 1380. Its campanile and baptistry make a fine group. Inside is the famous Gothic octagonal pulpit by Nicola Pisano (1266–1268) supported on lions, and the labyrinth inlaid in the flooring, traversed by penitents on their knees. Beneath the Duomo, in the baptistry is the baptismala marvellous font with bas-reliefs by Donatello, Ghiberti, Jacopo della Quercia and other 15th-century sculptors. The Museum of the Opera del Duomo contains Duccio's famous Madonna (1308–1311).

The shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, the town main square, which houses the Palazzo Pubblico, and the Torre del Mangia, is famous for hosting the Palio.

The Palazzo Pubblico (townhall), hosting the mural of "Good Government" by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, a magnificent example of late-Medieval/early Renaissance art as well as a representation of the utopia of urban society as conceived during that period.

Region

Tuscany (click to read more from our website)

Tourist Attractions

Nearby the castle there is the church of the Annunziata, which keeps the polyptych of the Madonna and Child with Saints, signed and dated 1496 by Neroccio di Bartolomeo Landi , and a crucifix by the school of Duccio.