The Barnekow House was long considered to be of the 13th or 14th century (it would have been built at the time by a certain Cinzio Tommasi) but more probably dates back to the 16th century. The building is characterized by an external staircase (almost "profferlo") covered by a loggia with round arches. The Barnekow House, which belonged to the Gigli family for a long time (and where, according to a legend, even Dante Alighieri stayed), takes its name from the Swedish noble painter and officer of the Hussars Alberto Barkenow, who bought it and lived there in the second half of the nineteenth century, making it the golden cradle of complete solitude.But apart from the secrets of this choice, as well as the life of Barnekow himself, of which little or nothing is known, what most strikes the visitor who stops in front of the picturesque house are the unique tombstones in different languages and the enigmatic frescoes of esoteric and mystical subject that he himself created during those years, prey – it is said – of disturbing hallucinations and illuminating visions.
