Camigliano

Camigliano in the past was certainly inhabited by the Etruscans who followed the course of the Ombrone River from the coastal Maremma area. It then became quite an important hamlet in the late medieval period, an outpost for Montalcino, joining in the fight to defend republican freedom in the middle of the 16th century.

The castle, a fortified homestead, had already made a name for itself in the 13th century with consistent demographic growth, and, in 1278, there were reportedly 150 families.

After depending on the Abbey of Sant’Antimo for a period of time, during the year 1200 Camigliano was lured into the orbit of Siena, and, in the following years, the heads of some of the most important families (Gallerani, Bonsignori) carried out a great newly-noble patrimonial expansion destined to displace the lay people and clergy and to suppress the growing success of the small country property.

Noble presence is felt even in Camigliano which passes under the authority of these families for many years in the 13th century, but the fact remains that the local community would never disappear from the populous Castle of Camigliano, where a strong rural component seems to have maintained its own vitality for some centuries.

The current manor house was built inside the entry gate (called “Borgone”) of the old “castle” making the most of the ancient walls that surrounded the homestead. The symbol of Camigliano: the camel, found on a seal dating to the 13th century, can perhaps be connected to the influence of the papacy in the area, and there is speculation of connection to the movements of the Crusades that reached the Holy Land.