Castle of Montereggioni in Tuscany, Italy

MONTERIGGIONI, ITALY: This is a very small commune in Tuscany bordering with Chianti. It’s magnificent countryside and vineyards gave us an alluring look to beauty of this region. As the history goes, the town of Monteriggioni grew up on the sites of earlier settlements of Lombard origin. In 1213 the Sienese government built a ring of walls to protect the town and the garrison-post controlling the valleys in the direction of Florence, Siena’s historic rival.

TIME of TRAVEL: We were in Tuscany in October 2013. The best part of visiting Tuscany during this time was that we had this beautiful place almost to ourselves. The crowd slowly starts to vanish once the summer is gone and autumn shows up. While is very pleasant during the daytime, it can get a bit chilly on the mountains or in the countryside in the late afternoons, always better to carry a light sweater for those moments. We were on our way to hotel after visiting Siena at the end of our first day in Tuscany and had just little time to spend before the daylight was gone. We drove to Monteriggioni just in time to enjoy a beautiful sunset in the hillside of Tuscany.

OUR HOTEL: We stayed in “My One Hotel in Radda” for the whole time in Tuscany. It’s located in the hills of Chianti…a place which is not only famous for its wine, but also for its art, history, natural beauty, and simplicity. This was a 4 or 5 star resort. We had free grand breakfast buffet, spacious room, clean linens, and excellent customer service. But above all of those, the best part of it is the view from our balcony or from the hotel terrace. Standing on the upper terrace one early morning, I got the perfect glimpse of Tuscan hills and trees hugging the autumn clouds…it was a breathtaking feeling. I felt like I didn’t need to get out, I could have just sit in my hotel balcony all day and enjoy Tuscany right from there.

EATING and SHOPPING: There were couple restaurants inside the castle complex where people gathered for drinks and meals. But didn’t see any shops or souvenir stores there…I was rushing to capture the sunset, maybe that’s why?

PLACES WE’VE VISITED: We barely spent about an hour in Monteriggioni right around sunset time. The hills and fields looked gorgeous as the sun turned bright orange and went down the horizon slowly. I roughly managed to see the castle from outside while my husband and girls stayed in the parking

CASTLE of MONTERIGGIONI: This was the only site I saw in Monteriggioni as it was already around sunset time. We didn’t do much research on this town either as far as what to see and do, since we just decided to show up here at the last minute.

Historically, the construction of the castle started in 1213 with the expense and labor paid for by the people of Siena. From the very starting the castle was enclosed completely by walls. The castle was traversed by countless armed clashes with its rival Florence, which on various occasions tried to destroy the walled hamlet. Monteriggioni, an unconquered and “unconquerable” fortress, fell only during the siege of 1553 under the imperial troops allied with the Florentines, who attacked and bombarded the castled until it surrendered. The rustic and simple character of the 560 meters of walls, 14 towers, and 2 gates convey an idea of the medieval world which are fascinating even today.

I am not sure if tourists are allowed to go inside any of the castle buildings or if there were anything else that we could have seen or done here, nevertheless it was a short but nice stop to take in more of Tuscan magic.