Baron Sidney Sonnino, who rdwelled in the castle for long periods, is considered one of the leading figures in Italian history at the turn of the 1800s and early 1900s.

At the end of the Italian Risorgimento he became Minister of the Treasury together with Francesco Crispi, he was then twice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from the beginning of the First World War to its conclusion. He is on of the peace signatory at the Versailles Congress.

Giolitti’s historical opponent, Baron Sidney Sonnino is also remembered for being the promoter of the Treaty of London, that he himself wanted and signed for Italy, which led our country to ally with France and England against Germany and Austria in 1915.

He was a great reformer of the agricultural system and an advocate of new experiments in the agricultural field that he applied in his Montespertoli company. He also reformed the sharecropping system and was in favor of universal suffrage.

All photos are kindly granted by the Sidney Sonnino Foundation archive