The 18th century: a post station
Villa Le Querce stands on the site of an 18th-century post station — older still, according to some sources. It was a stopping point on the roads of the Siena countryside, where travellers and couriers found rest, fresh horses and supplies. Hospitality has always been at home here.
The 20th century: a great dream, broken by history
In the early 1900s the building was bought by Giuseppe and Maria Branconi, who wanted to turn it into a large manor house for their eight children. History had other plans. The First World War took two of their sons, and the Spanish flu epidemic took a third soon after. Of the two surviving daughters, the thinking of the time held that they could not lead the hard work of the farm. And so, in 1931 — the year the youngest granddaughter was born — the building site was abandoned. The unfinished house went back to being a stable and a store for seed and hay.
The silence that protected the villa
Those decades of silence are exactly what kept the building's soul intact. You can still read it today in the mangers that recall the stable, in the vaulted ceilings and above all in the solid walls of local sandstone, cut by hand stone by stone.
The 2000s: the Branconi sisters
Around the year 2000 Enza and Milena Branconi, daughters of one of the owners, took the fate of the house back into their own hands. The restoration they led carefully preserved the mangers, the vaults and the hand-worked stone, rather than turning the old farmhouse into an anonymous resort. Villa Le Querce is the home the family had dreamt of a hundred years earlier, completed by the very people who, back then, would not have been allowed to.
Perhaps that is why beginnings are celebrated so well here.
On the road to San Galgano
The villa sits along the strada vicinale di San Pancrazio, the lane linking Chiusdino to the Abbey of San Galgano and the Montesiepi Hermitage. Today it is a genuine route for pilgrims and visitors, tied to the figure of Galgano Guidotti and the legend of the Sword in the Stone. Villa Le Querce is a modern, authentic stop along the way.
The villa today
- 450 m² of stone-built villa
- 4 symmetrical apartments, each with its own dominant colour, sleeping 4 (2 in the bedroom and 2 on the living-room sofa bed), up to 16 guests
- Living room with fireplace, dining room and a large kitchen
- Large connecting halls of about 155 m², for dinner, a dance floor or events
- Saltwater pool (16 × 8 m) and 6,200 m² of gardens for your exclusive use, with 100 m² of terraces
- Table tennis
- Starry skies: far from city lights, on clear nights the stars feel within reach
Where we are
Loc. Ciglierese 124, Palazzetto – 53012 Chiusdino (SI), Italy
Abbey of San Galgano: 2.5 km, about 5 minutes
