Sovana, town and Etruscan necropolises

Isolated in the heart of Maremma, a few kilometers from the border of Lazio, Sovana is one of the rare anthropical elements of a territory that is still in large part wild and among the least populated in Italy.

The marvelous Sovanese landscape (and more in general that of the Tuscia Tuscany), marked by the course of the limpid Fiora River, is the result of the prudent management of the environment on the behalf of the local communities, which have known how to make bloom and maintain only those productive activities, such as agriculture, breeding, and recently agritourism, perfectly compatible with its natural characteristics. And thus, already in the car, you cannot resist feeling emotion wandering these solitary lands, on calm little streets, going up to every high spot with their breathtaking panoramas on the sea of uncontaminated countryside, whose colors change with the seasons; from a deep emerald in autumn and winter, to bright green and dotted with daisies and poppies in spring, to very yellow and burned by the sun in summer, these lands form an always-magnificent environmental painting; and perhaps also a little mysterious, if it is true that here more than anywhere else remained the classic “Etruscan landscape” practically intact over the centuries, with its dark and impenetrable oak woods, its deep tuffaceous gorges and its unpolluted quarry roads. Hence, it is in this fascinating context in which Sovana is located, defined “city of tufo” for the extreme homogeneity of the well-conserved building patrimony and considered one of the most fascinating towns of Maremma and Tuscany. Its origins are very old: it was a prosperous Etruscan and Roman settlement with the name Suana, and its fortune continued into the Middle Ages, so much so as to earn the epithet of “Queen of the Maremma” and at that same time was embellished with valuable monuments. But soon after, falling under the domination first of Siena and then of Florence, the city collapsed into a decadence that continued into our days, risking actually becoming a “ghost town”. Only a few years ago, in fact, was the town rediscovered, valued, and adequately promoted, so that the Sovana represented today (together with the nearby Sorano, its communal capital, and Pitigliano) is one of the most visited centers of Grossetano and the inside of Etruria, for environmental and cultural tourism. The unforgettable visit to Sovana, above all else, is equal to a real dive into the most bizarre and fantastic Medieval town, where old little houses are alternated with noble palaces embellished with rusticated frames, buildings placed on cliffs on the large valley formed by the Lente River, full of very thick vegetation. The tiny inhabited area, crossed by the only surviving street with a brick surface, is closed at its extremity by the Duomo of SS. Pietro and Paolo and by the semi ruined Fortress of the Aldobrandeschi (13th-16th centuries), eloquent symbols of spiritual and temporal power. Of particular beauty is the Duomo, interesting example of a Romanesque church, built between the 10th and 11th centuries, probably on the ruins of a more ancient temple, but restructured in the 1300’s with the insertion of Gothic elements

The keystone of Sovana is, however, the lovely Piazza del Pretorio, which is spectacularly enclosed between attractive medieval buildings. Here face the most important buildings of the town, among which stand out Palazzo Pretorio, which gives its name to the widening: dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries and restructured in the 1400’s, it is decorated with the stone coats of arms of Capitani of Giustizia and the Sienese Commissari; it is home to the Center of Documentation of the Sovanese Territory, where medieval and Etruscan remains are conserved; of the Etruscan remains the most important is the Ildebranda Tomb. Next to the palazzo you can admire the Logetta del Capitano, characterized by the porch bearing a large marble Medicean coat of arms. On the other side of the piazza you will find the ruins of the very ancient Church of San Mamiliano, built in the early Christian era above a Roman building, and the late-Renaissance Palazzo Bourbon del Monte. Finally, overlooking the piazza are the picturesque Palazzo dell’Archivo, embellished by a bell tower with clock underneath, and the coeval Romanesque Church of Santa Maria Maggiore (12th – 13th cent.), with small bell tower and inside three naves divided by octagonal columns. It is home to several important 16th-century frescoes and, in the main altar, a travertine ciborium from the 8th-9th century, sustained by Corinthian capitals and decorated in grape clusters, doves, peacocks, and leaves.