The town of Radicofani offers the sight of wonderful landscapes, the famous Villa Medicea called "La Posta" and the church of San Pietro built in a Romanesque style. It is in the province o Siena at 780 m of altitude and it has a population of about 1200 inhabitants.

In the Early Middle Ages, Radicofani was a fortress and it was cited in the year 973 for the first time. Around it, a first built-up area called "Callemala" rose. This building had long been disputed between the inhabitants of the Abbey of San Salvatore, set on the Amiata mountain, and the Counts Aldobrandeschi.
Later, the Counts of Chiusi owned it and donated part of their privileges (which still belonged to the Abbey) to the bishopric of Siena around the XII century.
The monks of San Salvatore reacted immediately. In 1135, the friars called for an intervention of the Church and ceded Radicofani to the Holy See in perpetual lease. This transformed the castle into one of the scenes of the wars between the Papacy and the Empire and between the Florentine Guelfs and the Sienese Ghibellines in the XIII century.
At the same time, the town became an autonomous municipality and sided with the Guelfs, giving shelter to many Sienese exiles and suffering the violent reprisal of the Republic (1236). At the end of the XIII century, the legendary figure of Ghino di Tacco, the "gentleman brigand", became famous in Radicofani. This leader, who belonged to the dynasty of the Conti of Guardavallo and who was a relentless Ghibelline, earned a great fame also thanks to Dante and Boccaccio, who cited him in their works.
In 1352, the Republic of Siena eventually succeeded into annexing Radicofani, by settling the Salimbeni in it, who were the a city-born family and it was them who financed its administration.
In 1405, the Salimbeni ceded the castle to the to the city, but some members of the family rebelled against this decision and sparked a new fight off by occupying Radicofani. Then, the commander of mercenary troops, Tartaglia di Lavello, took the fortress and gave it to Siena in 1417.
The Castle of Radicofani also was one of the strongest opponents of the Florentine expansion by driving back the attacks by Cosimo I de' Medici's army many times. It surrendered after Florence, that included all the City of the Palio's territories inside the borders of the new Tuscan Grand Duchy, submitted Siena in 1559. The castle started its long and slow decline. Today, its remains are visible near the town, which instead has kept its medieval characteristics.