Sovana

Seven kilometers from Pitigliano, once passed the stream Lente, through a road cut into the tuff, you come to the main center of the territory that by the time Aldobrandeschi, was the capital of the fierce and proud ancient Maremma: Sovana.

Passing through the Porta della Rocca you are immediately immersed in a surreal atmosphere: the houses unfold through "the three ways" (the "Middle Way", the "Way Down" and "Way Above") and you get to a silence that is both pain and joy, nature and art together, an antithesis that becomes a happy marriage, as it was in antiquity, that between politics and religion.

The city itself lives between secularism and sanctity as evidenced by the Aldobrandesca Rock and Cathedral, located at the ends of the village.

Torrents overlooked by mysterious Etruscan tombs, mossy tufa in the thick vegetation bordering the "Vie Cave", centuries of life that relive the old habits retained by the people: this is the current appearance of Sovana.

Its origin is to be found during Eneolithic; in the VIIth and VIth century BC Sovana held great significance from the Etruscans, also gained impetus with the Romans, to assume an even greater prestige that lasted throughout the Middle Ages. The ruins of the Church of St. Mamiliano demonstrate the presence of Christian communities since the fourth century. Starting from year 825 Sovana was ruled by the Aldobrandeschi family until the late thirteenth century, when it was took over by the Orsini with which the city conducted a long war against Siena, which seized it in 1410.

In 1013, Sovana was the Hildebrand brithplace. The same Hildebrand that sixty years later was elected pope with the name of Gregory VIIth. Currently, the "Middle Way" departs from Porta della Rocca and the last stretch of the herringbone paved Via Duomo and its lined up medieval style houses most of which enriched by the typical external ladder and the "Door of the Dead", the so called back door where they used to bring out the coffin of the deceased. The most important buildings of the city are located around Piazza del Pretorio.

On the right side of the Piazza is located the thirteenth century Praetorian Palace, whose facade is adorned with nine coats of those who exercised power between the fifteenth and the seventeenth century, but here there is the Loggia del Capitano, square, surmounted by a Medici coat of arms.

On the left side, is the sink, then the Church of Santa Maria, in Romanesque style, dated thirteenth century, with three naves, the basilica, known for the frescos of great artistic value and the pre-Roman travertine ciborium (VIIIth - IXth century), moved on site probably in the eleventh century from the ancient Cathedral. Still visible on the same side, Palazzo Bourbon del Monte, dated seventeenth century, with a loggia that opens to the plaza level and, last but not least on the same side, are the ruins of Church of St. Mamiliano.

The front elevation of the square, between Via del Duomo and Via di Sotto, stands the Palace of the Archives, dated thirteenth century with an elegant belfry and a clock. Along the Via del Duomo, on the left side is a country house named as the birthplace of Hildebrand of Sovana. By the outer border of the village, in a grassy square, stands isolated and imposing, the Sts Peter and Paul Cathedral connected to the Episcopal Palace.

The church is composed by a mixture of architectural styles. The portal is flanked by two differently fluted columns, adorned with vegetal motifs; the interior is divided into three aisles by pillars carved by master workers from the Sienese school and school of Lazio. Of great importance is the last capital of the second row to the left that depicts biblical stories.

In the right aisle is the urn containing the relics of St. Mamiliano, patron of Sovana, now preserved in a glass case beneath the altar. The Antique gilt bronze ciborium and the eighteenth-century marble altar was replaced by a stone altar and ambo and the altar itself further changes were made with the current bishop. Near the Duomo, the cutting of the road revealed a number of wells/barns and columbaria consisting of a large number of cells.