Villa Cetinale is a grand, yet unpretentious Tuscan country villa built in the Roman Baroque style. Surrounded by beautiful gardens and a holy wood known as the Thebaid, it is overlooked by a hermitage known as the Romitorio, which was once inhabited by monks, and forms the northern end of a long straight line that bisects the villa before reaching a monumental statue of Hercules at the southern end of the estate. The villa in its present form was completed in 1680 by Cardinal Flavio Chigi (1631-1693), who inherited it from his Uncle, Fabio Chigi, who became Pope Alexander VII in 1655. Cetinale lies some 10 kms to the west of Siena on the edge of a large expanse of wooded hills, known as the Montagnola Senese, a largely untamed region historically inhabited by bandits. The bandits have long since moved on and the remaining tenants are wild boar, deer, foxes, badgers, hares, porcupines, hedgehogs and squirrels, as well as a wide range of migratory birds and wild mushrooms.

Cetinale is an architectural marvel with a world famous garden, its own chapel, hermitage, and holy wood. The park contains seven votive chapels, sixteen full length statues and 29 busts, as well as many stone animals and monsters. What makes it unique however, is that it has been a centre for horse racing, hunting, sacred pilgrimages, and lavish entertaining; a combination that can be found nowhere else.