N5820001 Cortona - Borgo Rofina was built (or rebuilt) in the late 1400´s as a fortified military installation in defense of Cortona´s -back- (the entrance of the Valle della Minima from Umbria, at that time part of the Papal States), during one of the many periods of tension between Florence and Rome (at that time Cortona was part of the Republic of Florence). For the next four centuries Borgo Rofina acted as garrison-customs house at the border between Tuscany (then become a Granduchy) and Umbria (still part of the Papal States), untill the 1870´s when both regions became part of the newly unified Italy.

Having lost any military and customs purpose, the various buildings were given to farmers, or perhaps were sold to a single land-owner who in turn had various farmers move in to work his land. The conversion from a military to a rural use caused some modifications of the original structural and architectural features of Borgo Rofina, but most features still remain and - most importantly  -the overall compactness of the fortified village and its outer protective walls have been kept intact.

The area inside the outer walls is approximately 1500 sq. meters, and includes three main buildings (one two-storied and two three-storied), for a total of approx.

700 square meters of floor space; and two additional annexes, a typical Tuscanian outdoor oven, and a somewhat mysterious -furnace-arms making- vaulted building with rather thick walls. Another annexe lies outside the walls, originally used as a shed for sheep and tools.

The village is surrounded by approximately 2 hectares of oak woods, and the property includes a large olive tree grove. [[