Holiday apartment in Pitigliano: Tufa stone, Etruscans and Jewish history

Pitigliano lies on a tufa stone promontory 313 metres above sea level, bordered by green valleys crossed by the Lente and Meleta rivers. At the same time, the town preserves traces of prehistoric, Etruscan and Roman civilisations.

Holiday apartment in Pitigliano between tufa stone and history

The Via dei Lavatoi walking route leads to two areas of Pitigliano where old washhouses have been preserved. Women have been washing their laundry at these washhouses since the beginning of the 20th century.

Buildings and historic sites

The Medici Aqueduct was built between 1636 and 1639 to convey water from the springs of the Meleta River to the fountain in Piazza della Repubblica. The Chiesa di Santa Maria is believed to be Pitigliano’s oldest church; it dates from the 12th to 13th century and was completely rebuilt in the 15th to 16th century.

The Parco degli Orsini preserves stone seating rows, steps, pavilions and fantastic statues. It also contains the ruins of the church and monastery of San Francesco from the early 16th century, built according to a design by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger.

Etruscan museums and Jewish heritage

The Museo Civico Archeologico della Civiltà etrusca di Pitigliano houses a predominantly Etruscan collection of finds, mainly dating from the Archaic period of the 7th and 6th centuries BC. The Necropoli etrusca del Gradone in the Museo Archeologico all'aperto di Pitigliano includes single-, double- and triple-chamber tombs, as well as a demonstrative burial of Larth and Velia. The Necropoli di San Giovanni in the open-air museum of Pitigliano includes tombs dating from the period between the 6th and the 4th–3rd century BC.

The Museo di Palazzo Orsini comprises 21 accessible, fully frescoed rooms containing art collections, sacred art and the castle’s original oil mill. A Jewish community in Pitigliano has been documented since the 15th century. As it grew in the 19th century, Pitigliano was given the nickname “Little Jerusalem”. The Museo Ebraico di Pitigliano serves as the starting point for visiting the temple and touring the former ghetto with its ritual bath, cellar, kosher butcher’s shop, matzo oven and dye works.

Local speciality and grape harvest

Sfratto is a typical Jewish dessert from Pitigliano. SettembreDivino provides another link between cuisine and the annual cycle: the event takes place in Pitigliano every year at the same time as the grape harvest.

Getting there and personal travel planning

Pitigliano can be reached via the A1 motorway towards Rome, the Orvieto exit, the SS71 towards Bolsena, the SS2 Cassia and the SS74 towards Pitigliano.

Further destinations for orientation

Grotte Cavalieri, Gavorrano, Montevitozzo, Castiglione Della Pescaia, Grosseto, Castel Del Piano, Arcidosso and Salaiola

For the higher-level travel overview: Grosseto.