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A village in Tuscany
"L'altro giorno, scendendo da Siena verso Roma per la Cassia, mi sono fermato a Monterongriffoli, un nodo di case in vetta a un poggio fra Torrenieri e San Giovanni d'Asso, (a poche miglia da Pienza e da Montepulciano, per intenderci), nella fattoria dell'editore Vallecchi... " ["The other day, heading from Siena in the direction of Rome along the Via Cassia, I stopped off at Monterongriffoli, a cluster of houses on top of a hill between Torrenieri and San Giovanni d'Asso (a few miles from Pienza and from Montepulciano, to be precise), on the farm estate belonging to Vallecchi, the publisher... "]
Curzio Malaparte, Due anni di battibecco: 1953-1955. Garzanti, 1955
"Pare che in origine questo luogo portasse il nome generico di Monte, siccome lo darebbe a congetturare una chiesa del piviere di Pava che denominavasi la Canonica di Monte. Nel secolo XIII cambiò desinenza in Monterone, di cui fu nativo un prete Jacopo di Guglielmino da Monterone, che nel 1249 ebbe l'investitura dal proposto di Arezzo della pieve di Pava... Finalmente prese il distintivo che porta tuttora di Monteron-Grifoli da una illustre prosapia innanzi che l'attuale tenuta di questo luogo pasasse nella illustre prosapia Borghesi di Siena, che vi edificò un bel palazzo, attualmente della famiglia Bellugi pure di Siena, situato sull'orlo di un baratro spaventevole." ["This locality seems originally to have gone by the generic name of Monte, something that can be conjectured from a church, the Canonica di Monte, that was located in the parish of Pava. In the 13th century, the suffix changed and it became Monterone, a native of which, a priest by the name of Jacopo di Guglielmino da Monterone, was in 1249 put in charge of the parish church of Pava at the recommendation of Arezzo... It finally became Monteron-Grifoli, and remains so to this day, after the illustrious and noble family of that name, before the possession of this locality passed to the illustrious and noble Borghesi family of Siena, who built a fine palazzo there situated on the edge of a terrifying ravine, currently in the possession of the Bellugi family, also of Siena."]
Emanuele Repetti, Dizionario Geografico Fisico Storico Della Toscana, vol 3. Florence: 1839
Monterongriffoli - the history of a name
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According to Emanuele Repetti, the 19th century historian of Tuscany, the village was known as Monterone at least from the 13th century. As evidence, Repetti cited the appointment of Jacopo di Guglielmino da Monterone as senior priest of the local parish of Pieve di Pava in 1249.
But modern scholarship has cast doubt on his assertion that before then it had gone by the shorter name of Monte. The Canonica di Monte which he associates with the village's purported earliest name is now thought to have been the Canonica di Santo Stefano in Monte at a different location altogether - the locality known today as La Canonica, near Vergelle.*
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Early forms and variants of the name Monterongriffoli included: Monteroni d'Asso, Monterone lo Grifoli, Monteron lo Grifi, Monteron-Grifoli and Monteron Griffoli.
The first known written reference to the village dates from 1208, in the context of taxes levied by Siena. And in 1226 a representative from Siena was sent here to recover the property of a citizen of Orvieto who had been robbed. The records show that the former was paid expenses "pro suo viagio quando ivit a Monteronem Griffoli".†
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* Cristina Felici, Franco Raffaelli, San Giovanni d'Asso - Carta Archeologica della Provincia di Siena vol X. Siena: Nuova Immagine Editrice, 2012
† Ibid.
The Etruscans
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Numerous archeological finds in Monterongriffoli and the surrounding area attest to its Etruscan past.
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The most important of these was in around 1538, when, according to historical accounts, an elaborate underground tomb was discovered at Monterongriffoli containing a niche with a sarcophagus surmounted by a sculpture of a recumbent figure. Around it, on a stone shelf, were 16 smaller urns with inscriptions, each one accompanied by the tools of each deceased person's trade. The inscriptions revealed that the tomb belonged to the Haprni family.