Montalto has a rich past dating back over one thousand years. Because of its position overlooking the fertile valley of the Ambra (an affluent of the Arno river which flows through Florence), Montalto has seen periods of turbulence as well as economic prosperity, before becoming the beautiful and tranquil vacation spot it is today.
There may have beeen a castle at Montalto, or at least a settlement with a church, in Longobard times in the early middle ages, and likely an Etruscan settlement before that. The present castle, however, was initially built by a descendant of Berardo, first count of the Berardenga family who gave their name to the entire area. The date is uncertain: perhaps as early as the eighth or ninth century AD, certainly by the eleventh when it is mentioned in various documents.
Faithful to Siena in the on-going struggle for supremacy between that city and Florence, Montalto saw recurrent battles between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. Eventually the impoverished Berardengas lost the castle to Siena, who refortified it with yet higher walls and maintained a garrison against the Florentines.
After a long siege in 1478, people refused to live at Montalto because of its exposed position. Siena first offered incentives for settlement, then in 1546 ceded the castle and its lands to knight Giovanni Palmieri. Under him Montalto became completely autonomous, with the sole obligation of loyal alliance with the independent Republic of Siena.
Soon after, however, Cosimo de' Medici led Florence to victory. When all of Tuscany became peaceful under Medici domination, Montalto lost its brief independence and the Palmieri descendants turned it into a residential manor, decorating the Hall of Arms with the frescoes of life on the estate's farms that can still be seen today.
Extensive restauration was undertaken in the 19th century and completed in 1908. Montalto had a population of about 120 at the time of the Second World War, when fighting again raged in the woods during repeated passages of German and Allied troops. After the war, the little community gradually became depopulated as country people moved into towns, and now only the owners live there all year round. In the course of a thousand years the Castle has changed hands only four times.
The present owners, distant relatives of the Palmieri family, have been living and farming at Montalto since 1970. They have added to the castle's interior comfort with modern conveniences, while cherishing the different types of stonework that reveal the castle's long and varied past.