What makes Borgo Scopeto Relais unique? The fact that it is a beautiful ancient structure? That is immersed in a wonderful countryside panorama with breathtaking views in the Chianti hills, but just a few minutes from Siena? Yes, of course, we can assert that, without question. What makes the Borgo truly unique though are the hidden and suggestive corners that no other place has.
We have already talked about our Roccolo in our previous article and how it has always been one of our favorite spots.
Today we want to resume this topic and talk about another increadible amenity of our own. For the column “favourite spots of Borgo Scopeto”, today we want to tell you about a definetly mysterious place, far from prying eyes and less known to most. It is the Soccinian circle.
Where is it and what is the Soccinian Circle
Those who have already been our guests surely must have noticed the oak woods surrounding the estate and may have even glided some stone pillars below our parking lot, as if to mark the entrance to another dimension.
Well, if you cross the threshold and enter the grove going south-east, you will spot at a certain point an unusual circular architecture peeps out from among the vegetation. That is the Soccinian circle, a face-to-face stone seat, a sort of miniature arena, if you like, of very ancient origins, almost as much as the village itself.
Here it is said that met in secret the heretical disciples of Lelio and Fausto Sozzini (or Soccini), the noble Sienese dynasty that has owned the Borgo since the fourteenth century. The structure integrates perfectly with the hill on which it rests, in fact it seems to have been designed specifically to be hidden, so enclosed by the slope, to go unnoticed. Perhaps to evade the eyes of the Inquisition, who at the time was so dangerous for anyone who had different ideas from those in power during the history of Christianity.
Borgo Scopeto was indeed considered a great cultural center for the society of the time, since the time of Mariano Sozzini, a famous Sienese jurist. It is therefore easy to think that it could have been kept under control and perhaps spied on by those who were worried about the reformist ferments.
About Lelio and Fausto Sozzini
Uncle the first, nephew the second, two very important historical figures in the period of the Reformation of the Counter-Reformation of the Church. The two, in fact, gave rise to Socinianism, a theological-moral doctrine founded on the concept that the Christian religion should be based purely on ethics in order to achieve eternal salvation. This cultural and spiritual movement had a great following both in Europe and in the United States until the eighteenth century and was fundamental for the spread of religious freedom.
So here we are, once again stunned and wondering what mysteries lie behind Borgo Scopeto, a place that even when you think you know it still manages to amaze you.
