FIRST WRITTEN RECORDS OF STOMENNANO

The tiny village (borgo) of Stomennano was built on ancient Etruscan and Roman ruins that are visible to this day, and it is indeed as a Roman outpost that it first appears in written records dating back to 1059. The name Stomennano may be of Etruscan origin, but it most probably derives from the latin “strumentum” of “pacis” after peace treaties stipulated between the local population and the Romans invasors.
Around 1100 the Sienese made agreements to acquire the control of Strove, Castiglion Ghinibaldi, Stomennano and Staggia, and in 1164 Ubaldino and Ugolino Soarzi gave their lands between Poggibonsi and Siena to Siena itself. This transfer of property included Stomennano and its farmlands then crossed by the Via Francigena, an important road connecting the pilgrims from Paris to the Pope in Rome.

DANTE ALIGHIERI AND STOMENNANO

On the 11th of June 1254 in front of the church of Stomennano a peace treaty was signed between the warring towns of Siena and Florence, which resulted in Siena surendering possession of Montepulciano and Montalcino to Florence.

One of the Florentine delegates was Maestro Brunetto Latini, tutor of Dante Alighieri, and it is said that the two visited Stomennano together years later and Dante was so struck by the sight of the powerfull towers of Monteriggioni emerging from the mist that he decided to mention them in the “Divine Comedy” in the XIII canto of Hell, describing them as giants emerging from the mud.

THE VATICAN ARCHIVES

The church on the hilltop of Stomennano – Santa Maria al Poggiolo – is mentioned as early as 1100, and its remains are still visible in the cellars of the villa. Documentation of this church may also be found in the Vatican Archives that record parish incomes of the region, all elements that make it possbile to establish that Santa Maria al Poggiolo predates th church built inside the castle of Monterggioni.

FROM XVI CENTURY TO TODAY

In 1555 The Republic of Siena was incorporated into the Granducato of Tuscany, bringing Stomennano and Monteriggioni into the Medici family. Successive ownership of Monteriggioni and Stomennano passed to the nobel family of Golia, then to that of the Accarigi and finally – in 1700 – to the Griccioli family of which the curent owners are direct discendents.