The characteristic historical center is known as the little Jerusalem, due to the historical presence of a Jewish community, which has always been well integrated into the social context that has its own synagogue here.
Characteristic are the houses that protrude from a large tuff spur, absolutely overhanging. The cliff of Pitigliano is surrounded on three sides by as many ravines, full of caves dug into the tuff.
Pitigliano was already a popular and inhabited place since the times of the Etruscans, when numerous settlements dug into the tuff and attested from the late Bronze Age (XII-XI century BC) were founded here. Even in the place where the town stands today there was an Etruscan center, testified by the remains of the walls found in the Capisotto district and then disappeared between the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 5th century BC
The Pitigliano coat of arms consists of a yellow Samnite shield on which a silver fortress is depicted on a hill and surrounded by two red lions. The coat of arms has the following official blazon: “gold to the silver embattled tower, supported by two red lions, crossed by two of the same roses, all on a natural hill”.
The first news of Pitigliano appears in a bull sent by Pope Nicholas II to the provost of the cathedral of Sovana in 1061, where it is already indicated as the place of competence of the family of the Aldobrandeschi counts. In 1293 Anastasia, daughter of Countess Margherita Aldobrandeschi, married Romano Orsini bringing the county of Sovana as a dowry and the county seat was transferred to Pitigliano.
The Orsini ruled the County of Pitigliano for centuries, defending them from the continuous attempts of submission by Siena and Orvieto first, and then by Medici Florence. It was only in 1574 that Niccolò IV Orsini ceded the fortress to the Medici and in 1604 Pitigliano was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, sold by Count Gian Antonio Orsini to pay off his debts. The Medici, however, were not interested in the fate of the city, which soon fell into decline, and only in 1737, the year in which the grand duchy passed to the Lorraine, Pitigliano experienced a slow economic and cultural recovery.
Today it is a well-known tourist destination thanks to the peculiarity of its historic center, which has allowed its inclusion in the ANCI list of the most beautiful villages in Italy.
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Summary
Pitigliano appears as a vision in the Tuscan hills. At night the effect is that of a town suspended halfway between heaven and earth. During the day, the continuity between the walls of the houses and the tuff cliff is astonishing. The tuff, just him, is the protagonist of this Tuscan village, loved all over the world. The houses of the historic center are built with this yellow stone, a small jewel that should be an example for everyone of how they love their country.
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