|The tower of Crevole with the scarce
rests of the keep enclosure.
Crevole rises to north of the town of Murlo, principal center of
the area. It can be reached following the SS2 Cassia and from here the
indications for Lucignano d' Arbia. From the SS223 Siena-Grosseto following
the indications for Fontazzi.
The area where the castle of Crevole rises is today
the territory of the town of Murlo. During medieval times it was involved
in one of the principal fiefs of the Bishop of the nearby powerful city
of Siena. This was granted in 1189 and already at the end of the same
century the Episcopalian dominion of the area was total so much so that
it constituted one of his greatest patrimony. From the year 1274, also
maintaining full powers during the fief, the bishops were subjected to
the obligation of militia and from 1387 to the payment of tribute to the
Senese Commune. Only in 1749 the laws of the bishop on Murlo and its territory
were abolished. The only evidence of its long history under ecclesiastical
hegemony is the nearby town of Vescovado whose name is derived from the
Italian word "Vescovo" which means bishop.
Although the already named country of Murlo was the
chief town of the fief another important residence of the bishop was Crevole
Castle. It already existed at the moment of the constitution of the privileges
but subsequently magnified and mostly strengthened for better serve the
demands of the new important owner. In the first years of the XIV° century
the bishop Malavolti strengthened the structure again. The garrison of
the castle was Sienese but employed by the gentleman of the fief . Siena
tried to obtain control over the castle at the end of the 14th century.
The most important military involving Crevole was also the last action
of its existence: during the war of Siena the imperial troops leveled
to the ground the fortification. Of the once important castle encircled
by double curtain walls and with many towers, today remains only the square
tower on the highest point of the hill (presumably the original nucleus
of the first small fortress), part of the walled enclosure of the keep
and some sections of the surrounding external walls. Totally abandoned
until few years ago the complex belongs to an agri-touristic estate and
the scarce remains have been consolidated.