By Simone Bandini
Torrita di Siena confirms itself as active and enterprising in the promotion and celebration of its territory, strengthening the solid and fertile union between the City Associations and the Municipal Administration. We talk about it, as usual, with Councillor Roberto Trabalzini, with an in-depth look at two events of great appeal: ‘Le Giornate di Ghino di Tacco’ (from 11 to 14 September) and ‘Torrita Biodiversity’ (from 19 to 21 September): write down these dates in your agenda, don’t fail to live your passion for history, nature, outdoor activities and the excellence of the local production and agri-food sector.
The Municipal Administration, in collaboration with Proloco Torrita, the Torrita Amateur Breeders Group and Torrita di Siena Living, from Friday 19 to Sunday 21 September 2025, therefore organizes the 7th edition of “Torrita Biodiversity – Agri Culture Festival”: an event characterized by themed conferences, an important exhibition of native animal species, fruits and ancient crops, as well as the setting up of a real museum of peasant art.
They are aiming to promote actions for the enhancement and knowledge of quality local productions, encourage the meeting between producers and consumers, thus sponsorong the development of the short supply chain in the agri-food sector.
An entire area of about 6,000.00 square meters will be used for the exhibition and sale of agricultural products from the Valdichiana agrosystem and exhibitors, during the two days, will have the opportunity to promote their products using a stand specially set up for them, free of charge, with tastings and other initiatives. Saturday morning will be dedicated, on the other hand, to the in-depth study of a theme – different but current every year that comes – with the involvement in a conference of experts and professionals and also of teachers and students of the Torrita Comprehensive Institute, who will illustrate the studies and work carried out in the field of botany and biodiversity.
“The Municipality of Torrita di Siena, which is one of the founding members of the Valdichiana Food Community, has been committing itself for years with actions aimed at safeguarding the environment, recovering the memory of its rural origins and the activities and tools related to it and, last but not least, the adoption of administrative measures that guarantee the use of local raw materials in the canteens of its territory. Torrita Biodiversity – Agri Culture Festival, for our administration, represents an opportunity for fundamental discussion with all the interlocutors in the sector for the sharing of programs and projects aimed at maintaining biodiversity”, explains Trabalzini.
The Days of Ghino di Tacco
In September, from 11 to 14, the first edition of the event called “Le Giornate di Ghino di Tacco” will take place. In collaboration with Sagra San Giuseppe, Pro Loco Torrita, Torrita di Siena Living – the figure of the well-known brigand who was born in the Castle of La Fratta, at the time in the territory of the current Municipality of Torrita, will be celebrated.
On the evening of the 11th at the Teatro degli Oscuri, the “Cammino di Ghino” will be presented, a route that will take walkers from the heart of the Valdichiana to the fortress of Radicofani, crossing the Val d’Orcia, in three stages with a stop in the pleasant villages of Monticchiello and Contignano. The actual journey will start on Friday morning and will end on the afternoon of Sunday 14 with the return to Torrita.
On the evening of Friday 12, in Piazza Matteotti, the historical theatrical show “Ghino di Tacco – Nobile Brigante” will be presented by the ARTEdaPARTE Company, written and directed by Emanuela Castiglionesi, with the extraordinary participation of the Flag-wavers, Drummers and Musicians Group of the Palio dei Somari.
On Saturday and Sunday, the historic centre of Torrita will once again be dressed in medieval costumes, with jesters, jugglers, merchants and knights who will cheer up guests. There will be no shortage of taverns to eat and toast, managed by the skilled hands of the women and men of the Torrita districts. On Saturday 12 there will be a renewed edition of the ‘Festa della Bandiera’, this year dedicated only to musicians – which will feature groups not only from Tuscany but from all over central Italy.
On the afternoons of Saturday 13 and Sunday 14, two Torrita excellences will be presented to the public: a pure Sangiovese wine from the Serafini Cellars, the Ghino di Tacco – a wine of great elegance, balance, longevity and perseverance, or the four symbolic qualities of the crane, a bird that populated these countryside until the 1300s – and the Bracciafiere beer, always dedicated to our brigand and produced by the Master Brewers of the Saragiolino Farm, unpasteurized nor filtered, with intense and spicy aromas as a metaphor for the medieval world. The celebrations will end on Sunday with the welcome reserved for walkers who will return to Torrita after the experience lived in the three days trekking.
More news about Ghino di Tacco
Ghino di Tacco, son of Tacco di Ugolino, was born in the second half of the thirteenth century in La Fratta, at the time under the control of the Castle of Torrita. Son of the Ghibelline count Tacco di Ugolino and a Tolomei and brother of Turino, he was a scion of the noble Cacciaconti family Guardavalle branch from which the Gagnoni family of Guardavalle known as the Guardavalli derives, noble patricians of Siena and Montepulciano and together with his father, and committed thefts and robberies to his uncle of the same name, despite the hunt that was given to him by the Republic of Siena. Once captured, the adult members of the gang were executed in the Piazza del Campo in Siena, while Ghino and his brother were saved thanks to their minors.
Taking refuge in Radicofani (Si), a fortress on the Via Cassia, on the border between the Republic of Siena and the Papal States, Ghino continued his career as a bandit, but in the form of a “gentleman”, always leaving the unfortunate people something to live on. Boccaccio, in fact, depicts him as a good brigand in his Decameron, speaking of the kidnapping of the abbot of Cluny, in the second novel of the tenth day: «Ghino di Tacco takes the abbot of Clignì and heals the stomach disease and then leaves him who, back at the court of Rome, he reconciles with Boniface pope and makes him friere of the Spedale.»
Dante, on the other hand, grants him a place among the characters mentioned in the sixth canto of the Purgatory of his Divine Comedy, when he speaks of the jurist Benincasa da Laterina (the Aretin), jurist in Bologna, then judge of the podestà of Siena, killed by the ferocious arms (proud, from the Latin ‘fĕrus’, savage, cruel) of Ghino di Tacco. “Here was the Aretin who died from the proud arms of Ghin di Tacco.” (Dante, Purgatory VI, vv. 13-14).
Info: www.torritabio.it / www.ghinditacco.it / www.torritadisienaliving.it / and related social pages Instagram and Facebook. For details or additional information: info@torritadisienaliving.it – Tel. 0578717484 / 388 6525977