The Villa Santa Colomba is a

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

-style fortress palace structure located in the village of Santa Colomba, a ''frazione'' of

Monteriggioni Monteriggioni is a ''comune'' in the province of Siena in the Italian region of Tuscany. It borders on the communes of Casole d'Elsa, Castellina in Chianti, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Colle di Val d'Elsa, Poggibonsi, Siena, and Sovicille. The town ...

, a few miles outside

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

, in the region of

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

, Italy.

The villa was likely originally a rural castle-like structure, which during the centuries of fighting by

condottieri Condottieri (; singular: ''condottiero'' or ''condottiere'') were Italian military leaders active during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The term originally referred specifically to commanders of mercenary companies, derived from the ...

of the nearby comunes, became less defensible. This building was severely damaged in 1364 by the raids of

John Hawkwood Sir John Hawkwood ( 1323 – 17 March 1394) was an English soldier who served as a mercenary leader or ''condottiero'' in Italy. As his name was difficult to pronounce for non-English-speaking contemporaries, there are many variations of it in ...

, condottiero of Florence. All that remains of that time is the church and one of the defensive towers. In the basement are remains of some of the earlier walls. A new villa, tall and imposing, was erected in the late 15th and early 16th century by

Pandolfo Petrucci Pandolfo Petrucci (14 February 1452 – 21 May 1512) was a ruler of the Italian Republic of Siena during the Renaissance. Biography Petrucci was born and raised in Siena, into an aristocratic family of wealthy merchants. When Petrucci was still ...

. The design has been attributed to

Baldassarre Peruzzi Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi (7 March 1481 – 6 January 1536) was an Italian architect and painter, born in a small town near Siena (in Ancaiano, ''frazione'' of Sovicille) and died in Rome. He worked for many years with Bramante, Raphael, and lat ...

, perhaps on a similarity of the elevated base to

Villa Farnese The Villa Farnese, also known as Villa Caprarola, is a pentagonal mansion in the town of Caprarola in the province of Viterbo, Northern Lazio, Italy, approximately north-west of Rome, originally commissioned and owned by the House of Farnese. A p ...

in Caprarola. Originally the villa had extensive formal gardens. In the 1550s, during the war with the army of the Spanish Empire, the troops of the Marchese di Marignano besieged and took the villa, killing most of those taking refuge within its walls. The villa became property of the

Piccolomini The House of Piccolomini (pronounced ) is the name of an Italian noble family, Patricians of Siena, who were prominent from the beginning of the 13th century until the 18th century. The family achieved the recognized titles of Pope of the Catho ...

of Siena until the 19th century. An inventory from 1840, noted the property belonged to the Tolomei family, and also noted four canvases by

Francesco Vanni Francesco Vanni (1563 – 26 October 1610) was an Italian painter, draughtsman, printmaker, publisher and printer active in Rome and his native city of Siena.

and a sculpture by Monna. The villa was frescoed by

Sebastiano Folli Sebastiano Folli (1568–1621) was an Italians, Italian painter of the late Renaissance art, Renaissance period. He was a scholar of Alessandro Casolano, and a native of Siena. He distinguished himself by several frescoes in the churches at Siena ...

. The Romanesque-style stone church of Santa Colomba has a cycle of frescoes dating from the 13th to 14th centuries.Comune of Monteriggioni
entry on church.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Colomba Monteriggioni Villas in the Province of Siena Renaissance architecture in Tuscany Romanesque architecture in Tuscany Buildings and structures in Monteriggioni