Did You Know? Villa Armena

Villa Armena, Buonconvento, is in the heart of the Crete Senesi. An astoundingly attractive area of unsurpassable historical interest, Buonconvento - whose name derives from the Latin "bonus conventus" meaning a good-natured, fortunate community - is a member of the prestigious "Most Beautiful Villages in Italy" Association.

The Villa, whose construction is attributed to Baldassarre Peruzzi, was built in the first half of the sixteenth century. It was the country residence of the noble Malavolti family from Siena who had the good fortune to number among their ranks nine Captains of the People, in other words the most important figures in Siena's political landscape at that time. Legend has it that the name Armena was given to the Villa and its immediate surroundings by a member of the Malavolti family who, returning from the Crusades in the Holy Land, stopped off in Armenia and fell in love with a beautiful local girl. He returned to Italy to get married and decided to devote his feud to his betrothed, calling it Armena as a sign of respect for the origins of the one who had entered his heart and his life so forcefully. 

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