Cortona - Cave of Pythagoras

(Local Name: Tanella di Pitagora) To the south of Cortona (reached by the road from the Porta Sant'Agostino) is the so-called Cave of Pythagoras, an Etruscan tomb of the fourth century B.C. on a cruciform plan. The tomb chamber, measuring 2.05m by 2.53m/6ft 9in. by 8ft 4in., was enclosed by large wedge-shaped blocks. The tomb has no connection with Pythagoras; the name seems to come from a confusion between Cortona and the Greek city of Kroton (now Crotone) in Calabria. There are other Etruscan tombs at Camucia and Il Sodo, in the plain below the town.