Rapolano Terme Rapolano Terme

In the Middle Ages the territory of Rapolano was part of the properties of the Counts of the Scialenga who dominated over the main castle of the area. Very soon( already in the last part of the XII century) the Scialenghi were obliged to recognized the sovereignty of Siena on their possessions. In the XIII century the subordination to the commune of Siena became total; the main castle, Rapolano, was declared “border castle” and made a podesta’s seat in 1265-1266. At that time the thermal waters of Rapolano were already famous and active in Roman period, as it is testified by the important archaeological findings in the area of Campo Muri, waters which gush out in different places around the village, creating hidromineral baths attended for the cure of numerous diseases. Because of its position at the border with Siena, the castle was attacked and taken several times and the Florentines, in the XIII century, devastated it three times: in 1208, 1233-1234 and in 1253. Other destructions are of 1306, when the castle became a shelter for the Guelph soldiers; in the XV century, during the Aragonese wars, and in 1554, during the conflict which will lead to the fall of the Sienese Republic. Annexed to the Medicean Granduchy, Rapolano continued to be the administrative centre of the homonymous “podesteria” which included four communities(Rapolano Terme, Serre, Armaiolo and Poggio Santa Cecilia). With the Leopoldin reforms, the podesteria was turned into a community and, after the national reunification, into a commune. The village seems to have developed starting from a castle, then stretching out southwards, starting from a primitive castle on the top of the hill and which forms a block which faces Piazza del Castellare and it is surrounded by Via del Castellare. In the middle of this central part there is until nowadays a broken-tower with a pointed arch-door and a depressed arch-window on the north-eastern side; south-eastwards it is still isolated from the houses around, while on the other side they flank it even if they have been completely rebuilt. The following enlargements has developed east-westwards for a length of more than 250 metres and it is surrounded by a circle of walls which is partly still visible, even if in some parts it has completely disappeared or transformed mainly because of the houses which have been built over or in front of it; anyway, also where they still exist , they are reduced to the only base. They are alternated by 5 round towers in stone, with a scarp-base and a superior cord, except for one of that northwards; 3 of them are on the northern side; 1 is on the southern one and one on the western side, just beside a door, and another square one on the northern side. Two doors have been kept: one on the south-eastern corner, which is perpendicular to the wall with a pointed arch in stone and the other one, already mentioned, westwards, made up of a square tower which is holed by a round arch-opening, surmounted by two corbels, maybe a rest of the disappeared piombatoi and provided with a series of small arches on upside-down pyramid brick corbels. On the inside, there are several Medieval buildings.