What is Pitigliano known for?

Jewish community present since the late sixteenth century, synagogue built 1598, ghetto imposed by the Medici in 1622, museum reopened after restoration. Houses, cellars and Etruscan vie cave all carved from the same volcanic tuff spur, the town rising directly from the cliff face. DOC white wine based on Trebbiano with Malvasia and Greco, grown on the volcanic slopes around the town since the 1960s.

Pitigliano is a comune in the province of Grosseto, Tuscany region of Italy, about 112 kilometers from Terni.

Tuscany · Grosseto

Pitigliano

The Little Jerusalem of southern Tuscany, carved into a tuff spur in the Maremma, where the houses, the synagogue and the streets are all cut from the same volcanic rock.

112 km / 70 mi

Nearest hub (Terni)

3,586

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Pitigliano sitson a tuff spur in the southern Maremma, eighty kilometers southeast of Grosseto and close to the Lazio border. The town is built into the rock it stands on: cellars, stables and synagogue all carved into the same volcanic tuff that the houses rise from above. The county passed to the Orsini family in 1293 and stayed Orsini for 150 years of wars with Siena. In 1556 Niccolò IV Orsini gave land for a Jewish cemetery to his physician David de Pomis; the synagogue followed in 1598. When Pitigliano was absorbed into the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in 1608, the Medici imposed a ghetto in 1622 around the synagogue, on the cliff edge. The nickname Little Jerusalem comes from there. The Etruscan tagliate, channels cut into the tuff at depths from one to over ten meters, were carved long before any of that, and remain in use as paths and roads. The DOC Bianco di Pitigliano, a Trebbiano blend, is grown on the surrounding slopes.

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Gallery

5 photos · scroll →

Known for

Palazzo Orsini
Twelfth-century fortress remodeled by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger in the sixteenth century, now housing the Museo Civico Archeologico and the Diocesan Museum.
Sinagoga di Pitigliano
Synagogue built in 1598, restored after partial collapse, the heart of the Jewish quarter that gave the town its Little Jerusalem nickname.
Quartiere Ebraico
The ghetto established in 1622 around the synagogue, with the kosher bakery, mikveh, oven and wine cellar carved into the tuff.
Vie Cave
Etruscan tagliate cut into the tuff to depths from one to over ten meters, narrow channels running between villages, still walkable today.
Acquedotto Mediceo
Sixteenth-century aqueduct with two grand arches crossing the gap into the town, commissioned by the Orsini and completed under Medici rule.
Belvedere
Viewpoint at the approach to the town where the tuff cliff and stacked houses form the photograph everyone takes of Pitigliano.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the dry months in the southern Maremma: vine work, mild days, evening light that hits the tuff cliff at low angle. July and August push into the mid-thirties and the rock holds the heat; the centro storico empties between four and seven. The Sagra dello Sfratto, celebrating the Jewish honey-and-walnut pastry, runs in September. November through March is quiet. Many restaurants in the ghetto shorten hours. The tuff in winter rain looks darker, almost black, and the vie cave below town fill with running water and walkable in good boots.