The castle is located 168 meters above sea level on the top of a cone- shaped hill that dominates the Chiantigiana road. It was built in the year 980 for defensive purposes by the powerful Gherardini family and between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was object of harsh disputes between the factions of the Guelphs and Ghibellines first and then among those even more violent between the White and Black Guelphs. The toponym comes from a contraction of the name "Monte Acuto".
