Rocca of Manciano

The Rocca, today seat of the town council.

The first notices of the  Manciano castle, situated on a hill in the valley of the river Albegna, are in a document of  the year 1118 signed by the Papa Clemente III° regarding the near church of Sovana. At the beginning of the 13th century   Manciano enters to belong the dominions of the counts of the Aldobrandeschi family, that raised the fortress, and it remained under this influence until the first years of the 14th century. During this time the castle was contended between the Commune of Orvieto and the counts of the Orsini family first, between these last and the Senese Republic then. This dispute ended with the definitive assignment of Manciano to the Orsini, although under the control of the powerful city of Siena.

Despite the many urbanistic changes happened during the centuries in  Manciano, today are still recognizable part of the town walls that are collegated to the fortress build by the Aldobrandeschi, with the rests of two of the three original gates and two cylindrical towers. To the vertex of the inhabited area rises the mighty fortress still endowed with battlements, with a rectangular plan, similar to the one of the great part of the fortifications of the area, with a beautiful square tower on the southwest side. Today the building is seat of the city Commune and surrounded by buildings of recent construction. Its destination let lose the original aspect of the fortress, the mighty walls are our days gifted with rectangular windows and of a small terrace, but all this years of public use have let it come in a good state to us.