Considered one of the most important and oldest monuments of the Perugia – Lake Trasimene area, the history of the Rocca di Mantignana is closely bound up with that of both Perugia and Corciano. By the 9^th century the fortress had acquired a certain importance as the residence of the Baldelli family, nobles from Perugia who had been made lords of Mantignana by the emperor.

In the 13^th century the Magistrates that governed the free Comune of Perugia gave orders for a castle to be built above the Mantignana fortress as part of a system of defences intended to give greater protection to the villas in the area. Remains of the castle, which was in a more strategic position than the Rocca, still survive today. For reasons that are as yet unclear, at this time the Rocca di Mantignana passed from the Baldelli family into the hands of a certain Ranuccio Simone dell'Abate.

Later, the Rocca passed into the Ranieri family and remained more or less in obscurity until 1700, when the Brothers of San Simone del Carmine took possession of it as their summer residence – a curious anticipation of the function the fortress would come to have in much more recent times. The monks remained the owners of the fortress until 1860, when it became the residence of the powerful Briganti di Mantignana family, well connected in a number of different milieus ranging from politics to the arts and the Church.

The recent and extremely meticulous restoration works to be carried out on the complex have revealed that its origins date back as far as Roman times. Started in 1990, the works lasted a total of 2 years and involved demolishing all the post-WW2 additions from when the fortress was used for storage and producing olive oil, restoring and consolidating the structure and bringing it back as much as possible to what it would have looked like originally. Part of the wooden supporting structures for the ceilings and roofs also had to be replaced, while the brickwork used in the vaultings and the terracotta pavings for the floors were also restored and in part replaced by specially made elements from San Marco Laterizi.

Currently the Rocca di Mantignana has a surface of 850 square metres, with outbuildings totalling 140 square metres. The surrounding estate extends for 25,000 square metres, of which 10,000 are enclosed within a perimeter wall erected in 1750. The structure has been converted into 10 apartments of varying sizes, all equipped with modern comforts. There is also a restaurant, a reception room, a swimming pool and a tennis court.