Pitigliano, A Hill Town In Tuscany

Pitigliano, hill town in Tuscany

Pitigliano, A Town In Southern Tuscany

Pitigliano is a small town in southern Tuscany perched on an outcrop of volcanic rock known as tufa. We visited Pitigliano as part of a Day Out In Southern Tuscany in autumn 2015. It doesn’t take long to look around but you can extend your visit if you stop for lunch in one of the town’s many restaurants, we had an excellent meal at Hosteria dei Ceccottino.

Pitigliano, a small town in southern Tuscany
A church in Pitigliano, southern Tuscany

Piyiogliano, A Town Built From Volcanic Rock

Pitigliano is built from the volcanic rock called tufa that is very common in this part of Tuscany.

The Pitigliano Synagogue

In a country filled with beautiful small hill towns, Pitigliano is one of the finest; the town had a large Jewish community until the genocide during World War II, unusually, the town still has a synagogue. The synagogue can be visited and, although it was rebuilt in the 20th century after subsidence, many original rooms still remain below.  Given the town’s hill top position, there are excellent views from many points around the town.

The Etruscans

The thickly wooded hills and valleys below were inhabited by the Etruscans, who left their mark by building strange sunken roads and tombs directly into the rock.  Our next and final point of interest on our day out was a visit to an Etruscan Necropolis, or “city of the dead”