BACKGROUND:
The town is situated on a steep tuff rock,
313 metres above sea-level. The area of Pitigliano and far to the
south of Rome is characterized by tuff stone, a hardened type of
volcanic magma. The typical Tuscan landscape with small farm
houses on soft hills is rarely found here. South Tuscany is wild
and many sided, similar to neighboring Latio, the area around
Rome. Small creeks have cut steep valleys into the landscape and
there is a lot of woodland. Not far from Pitigliano is Lake
Bolsena, a huge water-filled crater and the largest Italian lake.
From Siena you can see Mount Amiata, an isolated volcano 1738
metres high, and a favourite skiing area in winter. Near the coast
are extended flat zones, which were notorious for malaria
contamination up to the 1930's. This was the area that was home
for famous bandits like Domenico Tiburzi. Nowadays the Maremma
coast 50 kilometres from Pitigliano has beautiful beaches that are
hardly developed.
SIGHTS:
Caves and Cellars: Southern Tuscany was once one
of the most important centres of the Etruscans. There are numerous
cave-tombs of that period around Pitigliano, caves cut deep into the
tuff, that are today used as cellars and sheds. Later Pitigliano
became Roman. There's hardly anything left from this period. But under
the town houses are cellars in use which have lots of little niches,
in which 2000 years ago the urns of the dead used to stand.
In mediaeval times, from the 9 th century on,
the Langobard family Aldobrandesci ruled the region of Pitigliano.
After 1312 the Orsini family took over and from 1604 the Medici's.
Of further interest is the Jewish history of
Pitigliano. For a long time there was an extraordinary large Jewish
community, that influenced the cultural life of the town together with
the gentile population.
The castle stands at the entrance to the old
town. Next to it runs the impressive mediaeval aqueduct, that supplied
the town with water.
Inside the Orsini-Castle is an archaeological
museum, where you can see a collection of sacral objects.
On the piazza are two bars: The Bar
Centrale and the Bar Italia. In the mediaeval period the level of the
piazza was some 6 metres lower that today. Since then it's been
raised, so that you can hardly imagine that there's a chapel in the
cellar under the Bar Italia with old frescoes (unfortunately neither
maintained nor accessible).
To the left of the city hall is the
entrance to an interesting museum with old
agricultural and household tools and appliances from day-to-day
life, mainly used in kitchens, agriculture and viticulture. Have you
ever seen a cardanic stretcher for steep fields? It's on show here.
From the museum you can start an underground
walk past the castle foundations and through long tuff
tunnels (ask for a tour at the tourist office on the left at
the entrance to the old town).
On Piazza San Gregorio is a 15 th
century cathedral with historic paintings
by Pietro Aldo. The oldest church of Pitigliano (mentioned in 1274) is
San Rocco, almost at the end of the old
part of town. It has an unusual trapezoidal layout and elegant, slim
travertine columns.
At the end of the old town you take the steps on the right that lead
to the Porta di Sovana, a medieval gate.
Directly outside are the remains of the Etruscan
city wall.
Underneath the cathedral, in the former Ghetto
(entrance just past the tunnel on Via Zuccarelli) you can visit
the restored synagogue and the Forno
delle Azzime (a disused kosher bakery), evidence of the once
flourishing Jewish culture of Pitigliano.
Outside of town on the road to Sorano,
just pass a bridge, is the entrance to a park created at the end of
the 16th century, in which on the north side you can see statues
and stone seats carved from the tuff.
In the entire area of Pitigliano are numerous
paths with walls more than 10 metres high, dug into the rock by
the Etruscans. They wind down from the plateau's to the river valleys
below. Some are just outside of town: Leave town through the Porta di
Sovana and descend down an Etruscan path to the left, till you reach
the road to Sovana. Cross the road and continue down to the bridge
across the Meleta River. From there follow the Etruscan path up to the
church Madonna delle Grazie.
JEWISH
PITIGLIANO:
Pitigliano once had a flourishing Jewish
community. Therefore it was even called "The Little
Jerusalem". Here you can read more about that:
The Interior of the Synagogue
SYNAGOGUE:
Telephone: 0564.616-077
Contact: City Hall - Telephone: 0564.616-322

Entrance of the Synagogue - Drawing: © Peter
PetriPeter Petri
JEWISH
MUSEUM:
Telephone: 0564.616077
Open: Sunday 10 AM - 1 PM, 3 PM - 5 PM
Monday Closed
Tuesday - Thursday 10 AM - 1 PM, 3 PM - 5 PM
JEWISH
HISTORY:
The history of the Jewish community of
Pitigliano is extraordinary. Since
the middle of the 16th century more
and more Jews came to Pitigliano. Partly owed to the fact that
they were forced out of the Papal States (the border to Latio, a
former papal territory is only 5 km away) As time passed a
flourishing Jewish community life developed here.
1779...
Not just Intolerance
1779: THE CASE OF
PITIGLIANO - BY ROBERTO
G. SALVADORI
A confrontation between Christians and Jews during the anti-French
rebellion in a small town in Tuscany's maremma district. How
solidarity can be born of violence.
At the end of
the 18th century the Jews living in the single states into
which Italy was divided at the time experienced a decisive
moment in their history with the entry of the armies of
revolutionary France on the Italian peninsular. Wherever they
arrived, the Napoleonic armies liberated them from the ghettos
in which they were confined and from the numerous harassments
to which they were subjected, declaring them citizens equal to
all others.
This was the first emancipation of the Jews, which came,
mainly, like an unexpected gift, from outside. The second was
to come - after the Restoration, which re-introduced the old
oppressive legislation - through the direct and prominent
participation of the Jews themselves in the Risorgimento: with
Italian unity the process was completed and until the racial
legislation of the Fascist regime (1938) there were to be no
more differences between the juridic condition of the Jews and
that of other Italians. The operation between 1796-1799 was no
painless one. If it was a welcome surprise for the Jews, for
most of the population among whom they lived it was a
scandalous and unacceptable measure. The common town-dwellers
and, even more, the country people felt a deep-seated
suspicion of and hostility towards what at that time was known
as the la Nazione ebraica (the Jewish Nation). A strong
religious prejudice had taken root in most of the population
and had generated social (if not racial) prejudices that were
no less profound. The separation between Jews and Christians,
which had occurred in about the 4th century A.D., had soon
become an attitude of prevarication towards the minority,
resulting in an interminable series of measures that seriously
limited the liberty of those who belonged to the minority.
It was with stupor and indignation that the Christians saw the
enemies of the ‘true’ religion and the alleged murderers
of God enter the Guardia Nazionale, hold public office,
acquire the right to own private property and contract mixed
marriages. When, in the spring of 1799, the Austro-Russian
armies, with a series of victories, compelled the French to
abandon most of their conquests in Italy, these resentments
found expression in episodes of unprecedented violence. Even
Tuscany - "mild", or reputedly mild, Tuscany - was
the scene of such episodes. There were anti-Jewish
demonstrations wherever there were Jews: in Livorno, Pisa,
Florence, Siena, Monte San Savino (in the province of Arezzo),
and Pitigliano (in the province of Grosseto).
The gravest incidents occurred in Monte San Savino and Siena.
In Monte San Savino the keillŕ
(community) which dated as far back as the mid-seventeenth
century (though there had been Jews in the town since the
fifteenth century) was driven out in July 1799 and its
members, who included Salamone Fiorentino, the first Jewish
poet to have a place in Italian literature, were scattered
between Siena, Florence and Livorno, and never returned. In
Siena the "Viva Maria" band - the reactionary
movement with its origins and base in Arezzo - banded together
with the town’s thugs and attacked the ghetto, sacked the
synagogue and killed, or rather butchered, thirteen Jews
(several of whom, gravely wounded, were burnt alive in the
Piazza del Campo). And it is worth recalling that a similar,
if less savage, pogrom had occurred ten days earlier at
Senigallia, in the Marche: there too there were thirteen
victims. Things went differently in Pitigliano. The events
there mark, at least partially, an exception worthy of
mention.
In the two weeks between June 4 and 19, 1799 the Arezzo
insurgents trickled into the town. The inhabitants, to tell
the truth, greeted them in much the same manner as they had
greeted the French. In that remote and quiet country village,
where nothing noteworthy had happened for a century and a
half, the arrival of both produced unease rather than
enthusiasm. In any case, Pitigliano too saw the formation of a
"comitato" (committee), modelled on the Suprema
Deputazione del Governo provvisorio della citta’ di Arezzo,
consisted of five worthies which supported what was called at
the time of the insurgenza. It was a short-lived
alliance: at the beginning of October it was dissolved on the
pretext that it had achieved its aims.
On June 2, two days before the "Viva Maria" bands
appeared in the area of Pitigliano, two or three Jews had been
arrested and the precious objects they had with them were
confiscated. From the beginning of the presence of Jews in
Pitigliano and Sorano (the second half of the 16th century)
the oligarchy which held sway over the two villages there had
included a minority animated by profound anti-Jewish
sentiments. Needless to say, this minority took advantage of
the situation to strike a blow at the Jews, whom they branded
as enemies on two counts: as deniers of Christ and as
Jacobins, that is, allies and protectees of the French,
themselves bracketed among the unbelievers. Nor should it be
forgotten that the popular image of the Jews was that they
were rich; a conviction that was not unfounded since, within
the framework of that dreadfully poor agricultural economy,
the Jews, who pursued commercial and artisan activities,
modest though these were and at times at the bare subsistence
level, enjoyed a comparatively better condition to that of the
wretched local peasants and shepherds.
In the days that followed, with the arrival of members of
"Viva Maria", the number of convicts increased,
reaching thirty-one, of whom fourteen were Jews. The others
were Christians who were reputed to be pro-French. On June 12
the comitato ordered the Nazione Ebrea (Jewish
Nation) to hand over eighteen pounds of silver.
You can also
read: "Inaugural
Speech, held by the Rabbi Donato Camerini in the Iraelian
Temple of Pitigliano in the Evening of January 17th,
1890" (German translation of the Italian text)
In the 19th century the living conditions of the Italian Jews
improved. he Jewish segment of the population of Pitigliano rose to
around 20 % in 1850- unique in Italy. After the unification of the
country in 1871 the Jews were granted legal emancipation and
subsequently their share of the population of Pitigliano sank, because
many families left the place to look for a better future in the larger
cities. By 1931 the Jewish community only comprised of about 70
members and was therefore united with the community in Livorno.
In the 30's the situation of the Jews deteriorated.
Beginning
around 1936 massive anti-Semite propaganda began, and after the
installation of racial laws in 1938 the situation began to become
unbearable for the remaining Jews. Those who could, emigrated, others
were deported. By lucky circumstances and also by the help of gentile
Italians, who risked their lives, apparently all the Jews of
Pitigliano survived. Today there is no Jewish community any more, but
the cultural heritage is maintained. The impressive synagogue has been
restored and cultural events take place there. The "forno delle
azzime" (the kosher bakery), is once again accessible. There's
still a large Jewish cemetery, that can be visited on request.
Pitigliano is also well know for its wine. The "Bianco di
Pitigliano" has received many prizes. A kosher version also
exists that has become more and more popular over the last years.
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