Old Towns
Sarteano
SARTEANO
Sarteano is situated at about 573 meters at sea level on a buttress on Mount Cetona. The numerous findings brought to light in its territory testify a continuous human presence from the Paleolithic to the Bronze and Iron Age. Etruscan presence is also quite remarkable, as numerous necropolis, some of the most important in the territory of Chiusi testify. Sarteano appears for the first time in a document, dated 776 A.D. with the name of Vicus Sarturianus. Around the XIth century, it became the center of an enlarged feud under the Counts Farolfi – Peponi – Manenti, a family of Lombard origin, to whom ,the construction of the vallombrosian Romanesque Abbey in Sineta is attributed . In 1178, Manente di Pepone, with the privilege granted him by Barbarossa, obtained also jurisdiction of Chiusi and its territory. From early XIIIth century, Sarteano was disputed by Siena, Orvieto and Perugia. In 1379 Sarteano gravitated in the Sienese Republic. In 1469, Siena restructured the ancient Fortress, that had already been owned by the Manenti family. The definite reconstruction of the military structure is attributed to the architect Baldassare Peruzzi ( 1528). Sarteano hosts important painting evidence by XIVth and XVth century Sienese School , especially by Jacopo di Mino del Pellicciaio ( Saint Francis and Saint Martin) and by Girolamo del Pacchia ( Saint Lawrence).Sarteano is situated at about 573 meters at sea level on a buttress on Mount Cetona. The numerous findings brought to light in its territory testify a continuous human presence from the Paleolithic to the Bronze and Iron Age. Etruscan presence is also quite remarkable, as numerous necropolis, some of the most important in the territory of Chiusi testify. Sarteano appears for the first time in a document, dated 776 A.D. with the name of Vicus Sarturianus. Around the XIth century, it became the center of an enlarged feud under the Counts Farolfi – Peponi – Manenti, a family of Lombard origin, to whom ,the construction of the vallombrosian Romanesque Abbey in Sineta is attributed . In 1178, Manente di Pepone, with the privilege granted him by Barbarossa, obtained also jurisdiction of Chiusi and its territory. From early XIIIth century, Sarteano was disputed by Siena, Orvieto and Perugia. In 1379 Sarteano gravitated in the Sienese Republic. In 1469, Siena restructured the ancient Fortress, that had already been owned by the Manenti family. The definite reconstruction of the military structure is attributed to the architect Baldassare Peruzzi ( 1528). Sarteano hosts important painting evidence by XIVth and XVth century Sienese School , especially by Jacopo di Mino del Pellicciaio ( Saint Francis and Saint Martin) and by Girolamo del Pacchia ( Saint Lawrence).