Etruscan tombs and sunken roads cut deep into the rock
Sovana, a hamlet of Sorano, is a single street of stone houses with a Romanesque cathedral and the little church of Santa Maria, with its rare ninth century stone ciborium. Pope Gregory VII, the pope of Canossa, was born here.
All around, in the woods, lie the remains of an extraordinary Etruscan landscape. The necropolis of Sovana has monumental tombs carved into the cliff face, such as the Ildebranda tomb, shaped like a temple with columns. The Etruscans also dug the vie cave, sunken roads up to twenty metres deep cut into the tuff, which link the villages of the area: walking along them, between mossy walls and roots, is like entering another world.
Tip: the Via Cava di San Giuseppe leads from Pitigliano into the woods; the archaeological park "Città del Tufo" combines the necropolis and several vie cave with a single ticket.
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