The town is known asthe little Jerusalem,[4] for the historical presence of a Jewish community that has always been well integrated into the social context and that has its ownsynagogue.
The Synagogue was rededicated by a visiting AACI Group from Israel at a service in 2013, led by Rabbi Dr Jeffrey M Cohen, of London.
Pitigliano and its area were inhabited inEtruscan times but the first extant written mention of it dates only to 1061. In the early 13th century it belonged to theAldobrandeschi family and by the middle of the century it had become the capital of the surrounding county. In 1293, the county passed to theOrsini family, signalling the start of 150 years of intermittent wars withSiena, 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 thesovereignty of Siena. From then onward, the history of Pitigliano resorbs into the gradually wider ambit first of theGrand Duchy of Tuscany (1562) then of the unitedKingdom of Italy.
The coat of arms of Pitigliano features a yellowSamnite shield depicting a silver fortress atop a hill, flanked by two red lions. The official heraldic blazon is:"Or, a crenellated tower argent, supported by two lions combatant gules, each surmounted by a rose of the same, all atop a natural hill."The tower commemorates the Orsini family’s castle, who ruled the territory for nearly four centuries. After Count Giovanni Antonio ceded the fief toGrand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici in 1604, the castle motif was encircled by the Medici’s iconicpalle (balls). Later, these were removed, and the tower was flanked by the current lions—symbols of theRepublic of Siena—each topped with a red rose, borrowed from theOrsini coat of arms.[5]The municipal gonfalon is an azure-blue banner.
The municipality area of Pitigliano, while presenting different local situations on the basis oftopography is characterized by rather lowwinter temperatures, which can occur during prolonged periods, despite the daily maximum values are often pleasing. On the contrary, insummer the heat can be very intense, though usually accompanied by lowrelative humidity.
Consequently, the town has been classified in zone E with a sum of 2195degree days, allowing the power of heating between October 15 and April 15, up to a maximum of 14 hours per day.
According to data available for the 30-year average 1951–80 for the onlyweather station located within the municipal area and in the table below,[6] the average annualtemperature is about 14.1 °C (57.4 °F) at 313 metres (1,027 ft) above sea level in Pitigliano, while the average annual rainfall is 926 millimetres (36.5 in).
For several hundred years Pitigliano was a frontier town between the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and, to the south, thePapal States. For this reason, the town was home to a flourishing and long-lived Jewish community, mostly made up by people fleeing from Rome during theCounterreformation persecutions. Jews of the town used one of the caves for their ritualPassovermatzoh bakery, theforno delle azzime.[7] After the promulgation of racial laws under Nazi influence, all the Jews of the town reportedly escaped capture with the help of their Christian neighbors.[8] Although there are almost no Jews left in town, not enough to provide aminyan (10 Jewish male adults), the synagogue (built in 1598, with furnishings of the 17th and 18th centuries) is still officiated from time to time. It was restored in 1995.[9]
Pitigliano is home to a series of artificial cuts into thetuff rock to varying depths ranging from less than 1 metre (3.3 ft) to over 10 metres (33 ft).[10]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; they radiate outward from the base of the butte of Pitigliano, down to the rivers then back to the top of the plateau that surrounds the town. Numerous vases and artifacts have been recovered from thePoggio Buco necropolis.[11]
TheTempietto ("smalltemple") is a small cave, probably of natural origin but considerably reworked by human hands, lying a few hundred meters outside the central district, yet far above the Lente valley. Its purpose and builders remain unknown. Locally it is referred to as a "paleochristian tempietto", but this has never been confirmed; it must date toLate Antiquity or the early Middle Ages, although it may replace an Etruscan or Romanarcosolium.[12]
^Folco Giusti (eds.).The natural history of southern Tuscany. Milan, Amilcare Pizzi, Editor, 1993. Page 148
^Machlin, Edda (January 1, 1981).The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews: Traditional Recipes and Menus and a Memoir of a Vanished Way of Life (1st ed.). Dodd, Mead & Co.ISBN978-0896960893.
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