The castle, formerly called "Montespertoli", is of medieval origin. It belonged to the Ghibelline Alberti Counts, Lords of the area, until they became extinct in 1393. It later passed to the
Machiavelli family, who already owned a number of estates in the area, and from 1830 it belonged to the
Sonnino family. The period in which it was inhabited by Baron
Sidney Sonnino was especially famous, hosting numerous personalities of the time:
Francesco Crispi,
Giovanni Giolitti,
Gabriele D'Annunzio, and Kings
Umberto I, and
Victor Emmanuel III. During that period, important agricultural reforms and innovations were implemented. Numerous works of art come from the castle and are now in the museums and churches of the area, including
Madonna and Child by
Filippo Lippi, today in the local Museum of Sacred Art (), as well as a wooden crucifix by
Taddeo Gaddi, today in the Church of San Lorenzo in Montegufoni (). Today the castle preserves, in addition to various relics, the archive with all of Sonnino's correspondence and documents regarding the preliminaries and the progress of Italy's entry into the
war in 1915, as well as those relating to the
Congresses of Paris and
Versailles of 1916 and 1918, respectively. ==Gallery==