Pitigliano – Built on top of a massive block of tufa pierced through and through by the tunnels of ancient Etruscan tombs and constructed out of the same material so that it has the spectacular appearance of a vast and powerful sculpture, in which the houses appears to be carved directly into the cliffs they cling to, sheer above the deep ravine below.
The site seems to have been inhabited since the most ancient times; it belonged to the Etruscans, then it became a Roman town. In the Middle Ages, the Aldobrandeschi family was followed by the Orsini, a powerful family of the Roman aristocracy, under whose sway the town prospered, casting neighbouring Sovana in the shade. Thereafter it became a demesne of the Strozzi family, and later still of the Medici and Hapsburg-Lorraine lines, when it was annexed by the Grand Dukedom of Tuscany. Pitigliano’s unique historical centre boasts Renaissance and Late-Renaissance constructions in a purely Medieval setting, such as the imposing, battlemented Orsini Palace, that was founded in the 14th century and added-to in later centuries (the 16th century changes were planned by Giuliano da Sangallo); one reaches it by walking along the monumentally imposing aqueduct commissioned by the Orsini family, too, in the 16th century.
From Sorano, a fine road traverses a lonely stretch of countryside, on its way towards the Amiata and Santa Fiora.
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Daniela Catellacci