The first reference to Capalbio is in a “privilegium” by Pope Alexander III
(1161). The Aldobrandeschi family became the landowners in the same period. At
the end of the 13th Century, the castle and the surrounding territory was
conquered by Orvieto. Capalbio was then taken over by the state of Siena and
fell to the Orsini family. In 1555 it fell to the Spanish dominion who assigned
it to the Medici in Florence.
Giardino dei Tarocchi
(Tarot Cards) is on land belonging to the Garavicchio family. It was built by
Niki de Saint Phalle, famous for numerous instillations and monuments including
the Stravinsky Fountain in the Centre Pompidou in Paris (1983), the Rabinovitch
park in Jerusalem (1972), and the Sun God at the University of California, in
San Diego (1983). Inspired by the Guell park by Gaudi’ in Barcellona, the garden
contains 22 giant sculptured Tarot cards, each between 12 to 15 metres high,
covered in mosaic made of mirrors, glass and ceramic.
