Yesterday

Located in the hamlet named Monti, on a hill that allows a 360° panoramic view, including S.Gimignano towers, a few minutes far from the town, Fortezza de' Cortesi is one of the most
important historical and architectural sites in Val d'Elsa.
Likely of etruscan origin, it certainly dates back to at least the Xth century.
At the beginning of XVIth century Monti became a sumptuous villa of the noble Cortesi family, and a centre of humanistic studies, by the name of Castrum Cortesianum.. Here the prelate Paolo Cortesi collected together many scholars of that times and it was here also that he wrote and had printed by the famous copperplate engraver Simone Nardi, called The Red, his precious work De
Cardinalatu", of which only five copies remain in the world.
At the end of 1700 there still remained traces of the great castle walls, with gates and keeps, and the rudiments of underground road which united Monti with San Gimignano. Today Monti is a charming rural hamlet, which keeps alive the architectural imprints of the past.

Today

Fortezza de' Cortesi is now a beautyful villa, restored according to strictly conservative standards. Fitted up with antique and Tuscan handicraft furniture, it has draped beds with curtains in harmony with the wall colours, luxury fabrics, paintings and family treasures or heirlooms acquired through diligent research. Floors and ceilings in antique handmade tiles, beams in chestnut, arched ceilings, arches, fine fireplaces.. .anything suggests the idea that here time has been stopped.