Pitigliano - The Town

Pitigliano is perched on a crag of yellowish-red tufa between the gorges of the rivers Meleta, Leuta and Prochio, in an extremely picturesque situation. The soft rock below the town is riddled with man-made holes; some are ancient tombs, others are used as cellars. In the Piazza della Repúbblica is the battlemented Palazzo Orsini, built in the 14th century and altered and enlarged in the 15th and 16th. In Piazza Gregorio VII stands the Cathedral of Santi Pietro e Paolo, originally a medieval building but much altered in the 18th century, with a Baroque facade and a massive campanile. It contains paintings by Francesco Zuccarelli (1702-88) and two large historical pictures of the late 19th century. In the square is a travertine pillar with a figure of a bear (orso), the punning heraldic emblem of the Orsini family. The valley is spanned by a 16th century aqueduct with 15 arches which once supplied the town with water.