Hilltowns in Tuscany - Barga, Casole D'Elsa, Castiglione Di Garfagnana, Colle Di Val D'Elsa, Cortona, Montalcino, Montecatini Val Di Cecina, (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 25. Chapters: Barga, Casole d'Elsa, Castiglione di Garfagnana, Colle di Val d'Elsa, Cortona, Montalcino, Montecatini Val di Cecina, Montepulciano, Monteriggioni, Pienza, Pitigliano, San Gimignano, Scrofiano, Settignano, Val d'Orcia, Volterra. Excerpt: Pitigliano is a town in the province of Grosseto, located about 80 km south-east of the capital, in Italy. The municipality covers an area of 102.89 km and has 3,971 inhabitants, with a density of 39 inhabitants per km . The quaint old town is known as the little Jerusalem, for the historical presence of a Jewish community has always been well integrated into the social context that here had their own synagogue. Pitigliano and its area were inhabited in Etruscan times, but the first extant written mention of Pitigliano dates only to 1061. In the early 13th century it belonged to the Aldobrandeschi family, and by the middle of the century it had become the capital of the surrounding county. In 1293 the county passed to the Orsini family, which signaled the start of a hundred and fifty years of on-again, off-again wars with Siena, at the end of which, in 1455, a compromise of sorts was reached: Siena acknowledged the status of county to Pitigliano, which, in exchange, placed herself under the suzerainty of Siena. Palazzo Orsini.From thence onwards, the history of Pitigliano resorbs into the gradually wider ambit first of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (1562), then of the united Kingdom of Italy. Pitigliano is home to a series of artificial cuts into the tufa rock to varying depths ranging from less than one meter to over 10 meters. At the bottom of these cuts (Italian: tagliate) are carved channels, apparently for water, although some take the form of steps. The purpose of the cuts is not known: the three main theories are that they were roads, quarries, or water conveyance schemes;...