Campalfi was built by monks from nearby Torri Abbey whose cloisters today are a jewel of architecture in the locality and in Italy as a whole. The ‘flying’ corner of the farmstead that one sees below is all that remains from the original structure, built to take advantage of the fertile lands next to the River Merse.
Campalfi’s History goes back nearly 700 years.
Another relic of those ancient farming days is the channel with river water flowing just a few meters from the house. This channel was dug by monks in 1560. It is
over a mile long! The purpose was to direct water towards a watermill further down the valley, where grains would be ground into flour by huge stones moving under the force of water and gravity. The city of Siena persuaded Torri Abbey to organize the monks’ labor and the first five years’ of income from the mill were recompense
for that work.
