Castell'Azzara

At the foothills of Monte Civitella’s wooded territory you’ll find Castell’Azzara (the Amiata’s southwest sentinel), whose name supposedly derives by having been won by Bonifacio degli Aldobrandeschi over a game of dice (zara). 

Dante, in the opening triplet of canto VI of his Purgatorio, displays shock at how the castle was lost: whene'er is broken up the game of Zara / he who has lost remains behind despondent / he throws repeating, and in sadness learns.

Despite ending up in Aldobrandeschi hands, the area’s earliest settlements date to 1000 B.C. when the Umbri roamed the land, followed by the Etruscans from Sovana who ventured to the area to extract cinnabar for its mercury.