Campriano

Ancient origins and the fortified settlement

Campriano occupies a crest on an ancient route between Siena and the Maremma. The oldest known record is a certificate dated 21 October 943, in which Hugh of Provence, King of Italy, confirmed Bernardo II, one of the Counts of Siena, as its owner. A Roman villa and, before it, an Etruscan settlement preceded the fortified village.

Ownership passed to the monks of S. Eugenio in Pilosiano in 1081 under the authority of Emperor Henry IV. Emperor Frederick I reconfirmed the monastery’s possession in 1185. Campriano subsequently belonged to the Republic of Siena and developed as a community of free inhabitants connected with the routes leading toward the Via Francigena. Its position, permanent springs, woods, farmland and pastures supported grain cultivation, vines, olive trees, livestock, hunting and the movement of provisions between the Maremma and Siena.

Historical descriptions variously identify Campriano as a castle, castellare, court, rocca, fortress and village. Assessments record a church, two palazzos and about 70 houses, corresponding to an estimated population of 350–420. The 1318–1320 land register counts 90 houses, possibly including La Pigna, Usannella, Barottoli and Pietramonti. A Sienese vicar remained at Campriano until 1342.

Attacks, rebuilding and Sienese rule

Campriano was attacked in 1246 by about twenty people from Crevole, apparently without material damage. In 1266 the Republic of Siena expelled Ranuccio Tolomei and at least partly dismantled the fortifications. The walls were subsequently rebuilt.

Sienese forces captured Campriano again in 1368 and demolished part of its defences. Noblemen sheltering there had been intercepting food supplies destined for Siena during the political crisis surrounding Emperor Charles IV and the Salimbeni revolt against the Government of the Nine. Members of the Tolomei, Piccolomini, Scotti and Mariscotti families were killed in the fighting. The strongest bastion and two of the four towers survived. The principal damage probably affected the weaker eastern side, where the villa is now entered.

Siena financed work to secure Campriano’s walls in 1425 and 1447. The surviving upper enclosure, known as the Piazzone, is approximately pentagonal, covers about 1,500 m² and stands around six metres above the lower fortification. An arquebus opening indicates that at least some of the defensive work dates from the 15th century. A grange associated with Santa Maria della Scala also existed briefly during that century, supporting the interpretation of the enclosure as a protected agricultural and provisions centre rather than a conventional strategic fortress.

During the 1552–1559 war that ended the Republic of Siena, Imperial troops appear to have left Campriano untouched. On 16 November 1554, Duke Cosimo’s secretary Bartolomeo Concini wrote from Campriano about the capture of nearby Crevole after three days of bombardment. Campriano subsequently appeared in the Vatican’s Gallery of Maps, painted between 1580 and 1585; in a map accompanying Orlando Malavolti’s 1599 history of Siena; and in another map dedicated to Pandolfo Savini around 1620.

Ownership before the Neri family

The monastery of S. Eugenio held Campriano from the 11th century until its suppression in 1786. The Tolomei family is recorded from the 13th century, while the Spannocchi became the principal owners from the 16th century. The Church, Santa Maria della Scala and municipal bodies also possessed individual buildings or plots. In 1453, Benedetto di Neroccio declared ownership of a dismantled palazzo.

On 20 June 1476, the inhabitants of Campriano sold the Caggio farm to Checco Cinughi. In 1556, Valerio di Antonmaria Cinughi sold that farm to Ambrogio di Antonio Spannocchi, while Lodovico Tolomei sold Ambrogio Spannocchi a palazzo at Campriano. A claim that the Spannocchi received Campriano from the Republic of Siena in 1502 is considered doubtful because it conflicts with these later purchases.

In 1689, Giulio di Pandolfo Spannocchi placed Campriano in a fideicommissum for Agostino Bartolini. It returned to the Spannocchi in 1777 when the last Bartolini donated it to a grandson, also named Giulio. The Spannocchi Piccolomini family sold Campriano to the Bonaiuti family in 1846. The property subsequently passed through a forced sale to the Cassa generale di Risparmio di Firenze and, in 1882, from the bank to Bernardino Sammicheli of Chiavari. His sons Carlo and Mario divided their inheritance; Mario received Campriano, used it chiefly as a hunting lodge and rented out its agricultural land.

The Neri family estate

On 30 October 1911, Mario Sammicheli sold Campriano to Paolo di Dario Neri and the estate’s tenant, Giuseppe Muzzi. Paolo purchased Muzzi’s 50% interest on 30 December 1919. At the time of acquisition, Campriano comprised approximately 325 hectares, predominantly woodland valued for hunting and charcoal production. The property included the long-vacant rectory adjoining the church of S. Giovanni Decollato, then rented from the Curia of Siena.

Paolo Neri, born on 13 August 1864, came from a Murlo family and advanced from smallholder and merchant to landowner. He and his wife and first cousin, Gioconda Bandini of Vagliagli, had four sons: Dario, Antonio, Giovanni and Giuseppe; Giovanni and Giuseppe died young. Paolo later divided his holdings during his lifetime. Dario received bare ownership of the main estate, while Antonio received the Busca farm, Villa Bellavista and other property in Siena and Murlo.

During the 1920s, Dario Neri completely restored the former palazzo of the Sienese vicar. He added two loggias modelled on those of Palazzo Piccolomini in Pienza. Dario and his wife, Matilde Sclavo, transformed the spaces beside the fortifications into gardens.

In 1944, Paolo and Dario Neri concealed five members of the Jewish Cabibbe family in the rectory, saving them from Nazi deportation. Campriano also sheltered Salò draft evaders, escaped Allied prisoners and, at times, the Sienese Resistance activist Professor Mario Delle Piane. Yad Vashem recognised Paolo and Dario Neri as Righteous Among the Nations in 2013.

After the war, Campriano resumed its agricultural activity and became a meeting place for artists, writers, musicians and scientists. Dario founded the Electa publishing house in Florence shortly after the war. Bernard Berenson, Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli, Enzo Carli, Carlo Emilio Gadda and other cultural figures visited the estate, while musicians and students associated with Siena’s Accademia Chigiana gathered there during its summer courses.

Achille Neri acquired the church and rectory in 1994. The heirs continue to conserve and develop Dario Neri’s historical and cultural legacy while operating Campriano as an agricultural and wine estate. Winemaking is led by Dr. Ranuccio Neri, who trained at Università Cattolica in Piacenza and specialised in wine biotechnology at the University of California, Davis.