History

The elegant and impressive building, with its historical importance, stands on a site which reveals an uninterrupted history of human settlement.
Opposite the site of the country house is a necropolis and traces of an Etruscan settlement dating back to the seventh century AD. Thanks to the natural grandient of the land the site would always have been considered of strategic importance.

Three bridges are to be found on the property. The first, Ponte delle Caselle, was originally an ancient Roman bridge restored by the Dominican friars in the seventeenth century; the second, Ponte Vallerano, also known as the Ponte delle Streghe, has crumbled away over the years; the third, Ponte Funicchio, is the most monumental and was probably originally an aqueduct.

In the year 1469, on 29 September, Pope Paul II issued a papal bull (Fidelitatis Constantia) appointing the Dominican friars to administer the La Quercia Sanctuary.

The Dominican land register of 1657 ( the Cabreo, vol. 128, in the entry written by notary Blasio Blasi and illustrated by Giovan Battista Schiratti), shows that in the year 1565 a certain Petrucci, against his father’s will, left all his properties to the Dominican friars and sold a part of the Le Caselle country house to a certain Bonelli. A drawing of the building drawn by Schiratti testifies to its existence at that time.

An illustration in the Cabreo dated 1749 (written out and illustrated by Nicola del Carretto) shows a lateral addition to the building.
It is interesting to note how the access road to the country house leads directly towards the hamlet and church of Santa Maria della Quercia.