In 1487 Niccolò di Manno Bufalini received from Città di Castello a fort to be completed for the defence of the Upper Tiber Valley territory. Its restructuring, begun by the Roman architect Mariano Savelli, was completed by Giovanni and Camillo Vitelli. In the 16th century, in the ownership of Giulio and Ventura Bufalini, the building was transformed into a noble residence by the work of the Florentine architect Giovanni di Alesso, known as Nanni Unghero, and with the cycles of frescoes and ‘grotesques’ created by Cristoforo Gherardi of Sansepolcro. This was the home of Francesca Turrini Bufalini (1553-1641), a lady and poetess of noted personality, the wife of Giulio Bufalini, a colonel in the Papal forces. At the end of the 17th century the Bufalini family transformed the garden, with beds of prized roses, tree-lined arcades, fountains, niches decorated with mosaics and a large labyrinth of box.
The castle was acquired by the State in 1989 and underwent substantial restoration.