In the heart of Tuscany’s Val di Chiana, the walled village of Gargonza is perched on top of a hill which overlooks the valley between Arezzo and Siena, in the municipality of Monte San Savino, one of the first urban settlements in the region.

Gargonza is a typical example of a fortified Tuscan agricultural hamlet. It originated in the Middle Ages, at the time of the battles between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, due to its strategic position between the Val di Chiana and the Siena territory. Legend has it that Dante Dante Alighieri spent the first days of his exile there in 1303.  In the 1500s, it had become a community devoted to the care of woods and the production of wool.