Return to Tuscan. Pitillaano

And here we are going to Pitillano, the ancient Etruscan city, which we plan for ourselves the main among him like on our route. And saw me an ancient walls lit by the sunset rays, and the quiet twilight over the soaring over the abyss of the Middle Ages, but, closing ahead, say that, alas, the weather and here spoiled us with the plans. By the time of the sunset, all the sky was tightened with dense gray clouds, and the wind was such that the quiet twilight could only dream of – 🙂

By the way, two kilometers from Pitillano also have, where to wander, if the theme of the Etruscans is seriously interested. We looked at another Etruscan Road Via Cava Etrusca San Giuseppe .

Strictly speaking, these three vintage settlements – hazard, Sonoano and Pitillano their location seems like a triangle, inside which is the so-called ancient complex Città Del Tufo . As I said, this landscape of the region is formed by a large number of hills of volcanic origin, tuff cliffs and gorges. The tuff is a pretty soft rock, it allowed the local peoples to use it as a building material for the construction of settlements on the tops of the hills, and in more than a long-standing times in the slopes of the hills, caves were hosted both for housing and for ancient graves and columbaries. And for me, as I said, the most amazing evidence of the existence of Etruscans turned out to be the paths, which they hollowed out directly through the rocks, connecting settlements with each other and with necropals.

The height of the walls of these man-made stone passes reaches twenty meters! And do not forget, these roads were built, there were those means and tools that could be available two and a half thousand years ago. Is it not impressive? There are more than a dozen of such roads here, they are all pretty different, length from a few hundred meters to one and a half kilometers, and in a width of two or four, some relatively smooth and gentle, other very winding and steep.

It is believed that initially these paths did not lay so deeply, they were created for comfortable movement and overcoming high-altitude drops. But since the wet tufonic rock is very compliant, over time, kicols appeared left by the carts and hooves of animals, these roads were subjected to further recovery and deepening.

Adopting the city with a panoramic platform in front of the city (42.630697, 11.664251), it is easy to notice that the city was built in a rather impregnable place, from three sides it is surrounded by a sheer cliffs.

There is a legend about how Pitillano was founded. Say, lived in Etruscan times two friends peilo and celibo. And they created somehow unacceptable prank – from the Roman temple of Jupiter, they grazed the Golden Crown, which had mastered the head of the respected deity, after which they had to flee from Rome, and led their walkway to Maremma, where they found the shelter in one of the caves in a touched rock. And so they liked the places of these beauty for their, as they founded the city here, and called him Pitigallian. But historians say that this is just a fairy tale, and these places were inhabited long before the Etruscans, as well as from the times of Neolithic.

In the Middle Ages, the city has already acquired features. Since the houses were built on a cliff from tuff, when it came to improving them or expanded, then the inhabitants have always been a choice – whether to put the construction with the help of blocks from tuff, whether to dig down the rocks. And choosing the last, they thus created a network of premises and basements, perfectly suitable for the needs of storage, since it was naturally maintained a constant temperature throughout the year.

And here in one of these houses we had to take the nearest night.

At the entrance to the old part of the city, all attention is attracted to the monumental old construction – Viaduk Medici, who received its name by the name of the famous Florentine family, whose financial capabilities made it possible to create such a complex engineering project in this place.

Although his work on its creation began in the XVI-M-century on the order of the Orsini family, under the control of which was then the city, and which wanted to improve the situation with water supply both for its Palazzo and for the city as a whole.

Draft Viaduka created Antonio da Sangallo Jr., which was headed by the construction of the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome after the death of Raphael. But, given the complexity of work and a huge height difference, this project was implemented only with the arrival in the city of Medici, under the control of which he switched over time.

At the beginning of the XVII century, the design of an urban fountain began, from which residents of the city could take clean water. And to attract funds to construction, Kozimo II agreed with the local community of Jews (which historically developed here thanks to Orsini) on their financial participation in the project in exchange for the further existence of their community in this city. Works began, and water was organized from sources nearby, the arches were built to overcome the RVs, and a fountain was equipped.

Subsequently, the aqueduch was improved, the reconstruction of the water supply was carried out, and the fountain was decorated with stone decorations. In the XVIII century, it began to call the Fontana Delle Sette Cannelle, because at that time the seven aquatic fouls were functioning that served the water from the Achduki. Five stone arches have formed an elegant continuation of the aqueduct, and the fountains are decorated with sculptures depicting animal heads.

Two symmetric travertine fountains on the square appeared at the beginning of the XX century.

On the opposite side of the area, a monument was established a monument to a collective image of the Al Villano peasant, as a tribute to the memory of the peasant roots of the city and severe farm labor. In those days, the donkey were part of the life of the peasant people, they were like family members. They say the last donks disappeared from the streets of the city only at the end of the seventies.

The author of the bronze sculpture was Mario Vinci, famous for other working works, such as, for example, a monument to Leonardo da Vinci at Rome Airport. Part of the funds for the creation of a monument Residents of the city collected themselves.

The network flashed a mention of another image associated with this monument – Giubbonai. So called all the inhabitants of Pitigliano, engaged in peasant labor. They could be recognized by the manner to dress, in any weather, even in the world they used to wear a jacket. And there is even some old bike about how one bad "Jubbonai" pulled from the square neighboring the statue of the bear from the square and carried to his hometown, hiding under the jacket- 🙂

According to the old city, Pitigallianly wonderfully walk at any time of the day, the same corners of the city at different times appear completely differently. Two main streets parallel to each other, from which small lanes are scattered in different directions, as a rule, quite quite cool and with a large number of steps.

As an amateur bell tower, I managed to record the voice of the main city temple in his collection – the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. The facade of the old church was richly decorated with stucco decor appeared much later, after numerous restorations, and the church itself is mentioned since the 12th century. In the niches on the sides of the portal, you can see the sculptures of the Holy Apostles, which this cathedral is dedicated to.

Here, on the square in front of the cat, attracts the attention of a small stone figure, depicting, if you believe the sources on the network, the bear, it is the symbol of the Orsin family ("Orso" is translated as a "bear", "Orsino" – Bear), in ancient times Managed city. But it seemed to me that the little animal reminds the bear very remotely- 🙂

Pitigallian courtyards are well-groomed and carefully decorated with flowers and greens. Here, in contrast to Sarano, the breath of life is felt, which has not left the ancient city.

Inspiration to visit these places in your time I learned from the publications of the photographer Daniel Korzhonov, seeing his photos of Pitigallian, I lost peace and sleep – 🙂 Of course, I did not succeed and close to his skill on the artistic photo view on the city, but then that I finally managed to walk along the streets of this old city and see his secluded corners with his own eyes, in itself was a huge reward.

There is another wonderful church in Pitillano, in which I really wanted to go, but it was closed. I’m talking about Chiesa Di San Rocco, and legends about the Holy Roch, who is dedicated to this church is very interesting. And I, as a short-dealing doggy, especially. This saint was known as a healer from the plague, which raged in Europe in those times. Saint wandered around the country and the power of prayer and the glory signs was the wonders of healing, but he himself became a terrible disease and went to die into a secluded place to not at risk other people. While he was in solitude, a dog came to him and bring bread that she dragged from his owner. And the saint was able to defeat the ailment, and the figure of a dog, thanks to the loyalty of which he managed to survive, appeared on his images.

So in this church you can see such an image of the saint and his dog.

The network is mentioned about one legend about the Holy Roch. When the saint, accompanied by his faithful dog, went to heaven, he knocked in the door of Paradise, and who opened his gate Holy Peter refused to miss them together, saying that the dog could not enter. That the Saint Roch replied that if there was no place in paradise, hence there is no place and he too. Probably, the parable of the dog was born from this legend, in that parable, this story was continued: after such a failure, the gate of Paradette was knocked on the following gate, and he was offered a table, and shelter for his dog, and he was offered asked what kind of place it was, and he was answered that it was. "How so, because Paradise was there?"- pointed traveler on previous doors. "That was hell" – answered him – "And in paradise we let only those who do not give up their friends."I managed to only admire the simple facade of this church, which means that the meeting with the Holy Roch and his dog will take place in another place – 🙂

Meanwhile, the night fell on Pitigalliano, and I, of course, I wanted to visit all the same arms of the Old Town, which I liked when daylight.

And, I must say, some of them are even pretty at the light of lanterns than in the world.

I think Pitigallian I liked me anything else than yes, although, perhaps, we will pass there, then in the old town I would find a lot of mysterious and unique.