The views from this hill top castle are breathtaking. The Comune of Perugia built the castle in 1312 at the request of the inhabitants of San Martino dei Cerreti, a villa near where the Mongiovino Sanctuary now stands.
The following year, the governor of Perugia stopped off at Mongiovino and declared that the area was very important as anyone approaching Perugia from Chiusi or from the lake would be seen from the castle. To populate the castle the Perugia magistrates ordered all the inhabitants of the Nestore valley below to build houses there and to move into them.