THE HISTORY

Grancia was the name used to identify the large fortified farms
equipped with big granaries, cellars and olive groves that the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala
of Siena built along the Via Francigena or nearby

 

 

 

Grancia is the name that was given to large fortified farms equipped with big granaries, wine cellars and olive groves that the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala of Siena built along Via Francigena or nearby for the purpose of storing, preserving and defending the products from the vast territories owned in the Val d’Orcia and Val dell’Arbia valleys, in the crete (territories) of Siena and in Maremma.

Grancia is the name that was given to large fortified farms equipped with big granaries, wine cellars and olive groves that the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala of Siena built along Via Francigena or nearby for the purpose of storing, preserving and defending the products from the vast territories owned in the Val d’Orcia and Val dell’Arbia valleys, in the crete (territories) of Siena and in Maremma.

Therefore, apart from some pre-existing buildings whose origins we do not know, the fortified structure of this Grancia was essentially the work of the Hospital and was formed after 1295, the year in which the Lord of Montisi Simone Cacciaconti willed all his possessions in that borough to the Hospital.

Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany, a great and enlightened reformer who ruled the Grand Duchy for twenty-five years (1765-1790), played an important role in La Grancia di Montisi’s history.

In 1775 Pietro Leopoldo ordered the privatisation of all the Hospital’s assets. Iacopo Mannucci Benincasa was the leader of La Grancia and in 1778, by virtue of a pledge he had secured over Montisi’s assets, he bought the entire complex together with some surrounding lands. In this way La Grancia came into the hands of the family that still owns it today.

The Grand Duke established a good relationship of respect and friendship with Iacopo and his son Tommaso and, the story goes that over the years he was often a guest at La Grancia di Montisi, where interesting proof to his stays still remains.

In June 1944 during WWII the base of La Grancia’s beautiful tower was mined and entirely destroyed.

 

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