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Journey into the Middle Ages in Monteriggioni! Once the last bastion of the Sienese defense against Florence (Dante even references it in his Divina Commedia), this castle now hosts this annual festival. Trade in your euros for medieval coins and enjoy the street food and entertainment!

For more details, here is the official website: https://www.monteriggionimedievale.com/?lang=en

And now for the reference in Dante’s Inferno of the Divina Commedia (translation below):

Come quando la nebbia si dissipa,
lo sguardo a poco a poco raffigura
ciò che cela ‘l vapor che l’aere stipa,

così forando l'aura grossa e scura,
più e più appressando ver’ la sponda
fugggiemi errore e cresciemi paura;

però che, come su la cerchia tonda
Monteriggion di torri si corona,
così la proda che ‘l pozzo circonda

torreggiavan di mezza la persona
li orribili gigandi, cui minaccia
Giove del cielo ancora quando tuona.

– Inferno, canto XXXI, 34-45.

As when a mist begins to dissipate,
And bit by bit we start to make some sense
Of what the foggy air hid from our sight,

So, as I pierced the murky atmosphere
And kept on coming closer to the brink,
My error vanished, giving way to fear;

For just as round the circle of its wall
Monteriggioni crowns itself with towers,
Just so, above the bank around the well,

The giants tower, half shown, half hidden under,
So tall, so terrible, but such as still
Jove threatens out of heaven with his thunder.

–translation by J. G. Nichols, 2012.

Domenico di Michelino’s 1465 fresco showing Dante and his creation, from the cathedral of Florence.