The Casale's history is directly linked to that of the Sanctuary of Monserrato.
In 1606, Don José Pons y León of the Dukes of Arcos, a Spanish governor of Naples and first governor of Longone square, nicknamed "Lungone" by the locals, because he was tall and lean, got caught up in a scirocco storm, while he was sailing near the Argentario Coast. The sea was so rough that it became too dangerous for him to keep sailing. The governor, a devout Spaniard, started praying to “Nuestra Senòra di Montsérrat”, Our Lady of Monseérrat. Thanks to God's wish, his ship docked safely at the Gulf of Porto Longone. Don José was so grateful that he had a Sanctuary built in honour of Our Lady of Monserrato, in some ways resembling the one bearing the same name in Catalonia, near Barcelona, and he provided the Sanctuary with a copy of the painting of the Black Virgin.
The Sanctuary was built in a valley of Mount Castello, three kilometres from Porto Azzurro, partly because the wild mountainous countryside reminded the governor of "Montserrat".
He was so attached to the Sanctuary that after finishing his service in Fort Longone, on the 7th of May 1616, he wrote a will leaving the custody, possessions (including a windmill at Reale) and income deriving from the oratory, in the care of four Spanish friars, instructing them to celebrate Mass in the Sanctuary daily.
Through a notary deed dated the 4th of October 1617, the friars took possession of their entitlements and founded a small convent, today's Casale di Monserrato, at the foot of the rock step where the Sanctuary rises.
