{"id":3672,"date":"2018-06-19T08:57:21","date_gmt":"2018-06-19T08:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.castellodimontauto.it\/il-borgo\/"},"modified":"2023-12-17T21:53:04","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T21:53:04","slug":"the-village","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.castellodimontauto.it\/en\/the-village\/","title":{"rendered":"The Village"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Montauto between yesterday and today<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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FROM THE 10TH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT DAYS<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201c… Belli intorno erano i pomarii
Ed ubertose le vigne.
Crebbero i grappoli a maturit\u00e0
Sotto la rugiada: si empirono
Le lagene: nei calici del ricco
Zampilla la limpida vernaccia\u2026\u201d<\/h2>

(Ugo Nomi Venerosi Pesciolini, Le glorie della terra di San Gimingnano)<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Montagutolo<\/i><\/span> di San Gimignano<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Montauto, at the time Montagutolo, was a group of houses – one of many on the hills surrounding the city, built around a castle almost always of feudal origin and a church, enclosed within a perimeter wall and dominating the countryside.
But Montagutolo had something more than other contemporary nuclei: from here it dominated not only the countryside but also the road.
Its position on one of the many routes of the most famous and busiest communication route of the Middle Ages certainly contributed to the development of this castle.
This medieval road crossed, here and there, ancient Etruscan and Roman paths and Montagutolo was particularly favored by this circumstance.
This road network therefore guaranteed Valdelsa and more specifically some villages –<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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including Montagutolo – opportunities for exchange and knowledge so much so that, thanks to the benefits deriving from this position and the profits that arose from it for all the areas involved, it was the urge to free themselves from feudal constraints was more easily understood by the inhabitants.
From some documents it can be seen that, around the end of the 13th century, the Municipality paid a lot of attention to the good maintenance of these places, to which the inhabitants and owners of the adjacent lands had to contribute. In this way Montauto always remained a well-populated area, thanks also to the favorable climate conditions and the fertility of the soil.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Wines and vineyards<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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After various research, it was discovered that over the centuries the village had not only multiple landowners of various ranks and backgrounds, but also a changed use of the farms and plots. All the owners have working lands, vineyards, fields, scrub, woods and animals, entrusted to sharecroppers and settlers.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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In all the properties, however large or small, we note the first attempts, in the wine sector, to reserve a small part of the arable land for vineyards. If it is true, in fact, that there was no lack of vineyards even in the 13th century and in the two following centuries, especially on the well-exposed slopes of the surrounding hills, it is however in a later period that the cultivation of vines became more extensive and more intensive, so much so as to give the landowners of the period the rightful reputation as expert winemakers.
The Montauto soil appeared particularly suitable for the production of Vernaccia and wine.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The reasons for this increased and qualified production of wine, as well as in the nature of the soil, are perhaps also to be found in the more diligent attention that the enriched merchants managed to dedicate to their agricultural possessions. In the history of Montauto, the pioneers of the production of Vernaccia are the Useppi family, who since 1538 have been the owners, in the same villa, of a vineyard called “della Vernaccia”. Through the documentation provided by a series of purchase and sale contracts and wills, we know that the Montauto assets belonging to the Useppi family were found as such until 1810.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The church of San Lorenzo in Montauto<\/h1>\n\t \t\t\t

The church of San Lorenzo was founded by the noble Subbio in the year 992.
Originally the access was on the opposite side to where we see it today, to allow easier access to the numerous inhabitants of the surrounding farms. Even today, however, we can see the entrance portal, walled up with a stone architrave surmounted by a brick arch and an infilled oculus. The bell tower was built in 1916 in stone and brick and on it were placed two bells cast by Francesco Bagnoli from Poggibonsi in 1865 decorated with friezes and four figures of saints. Inside the Church there is a large painting representing \"The Virgin of the Rosary\" with Saints Lorenzo, Agnese and Domenico, dating back to the year 1647 and commissioned by the parish priest of the time, Giovanni Bambi, member of the Confraternity of the Rosary, to a artist whose name is not known, out of devotion to the Madonna. At the beginning of the 15th century, the Church of San Lorenzo had a heritage that placed it in first place among all the churches in the countryside, clearly surpassed by the Hospitals of Santa Fina, by far the richest of all. Over the years, the parish of Montauto seemed to enjoy substantially acceptable conditions until Canon Ignazio Malenotti took possession of it in 1810 and revealed that the possessions were not being exploited to the maximum and in the best way.<\/p>\t\t<\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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