Sights in Southern Tuscany
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La Piccola Gerusalemme
In the course of the 16th century, a Jewish community settled in Pitigliano, increasing notably when Pope Pius IV banned Jews from Rome in 1569. Under Medici rule, its members were moved into a tiny ghetto, where they remained until 1772. From then until well into the following century, the local community of 400 flourished, forming the largest Jewish community in Italy and leading to the town being dubbed 'Little Jerusalem'. By the time the Fascists introduced the race laws in 1938, most Jews had moved away; only 80 or so were left and precious few survived the war. Those that did survive were hidden from the Fascists by locals.
To visit the old Jewish ghetto, head down…
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Museo Archeologico
Museo Archeologico has a rich display of finds from local Etruscan sites. They’re well displayed, though the descriptive panels are in Italian only.
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Palazzo Orsini
Interlinked Piazza Petruccioli and Piazza Garibaldi provide a majestic walkway towards this 13th-century castle, which was enlarged by the Orsinis in the 16th century, eventually became the residence of the local bishop and is now home to a museum. Its rooms are filled with an eclectic collection of artworks and ecclesiastic oddments from churches in the diocese, including an unattributed and extremely unusual painting of Jesus being circumcised and a 14th-century wooden Madonna and Child statue by Jacopo della Quercia.
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Museo Civico Archeologico della Civiltà Etrusca
Accessed via a stone staircase opposite the entrance to Palazzo Orsini, this small but well-run museum has a rich display of finds from local Etruscan sites. Highlights include some huge intact bucchero (black earthenware pottery) urns dating from the 6th century BC and a collection of charming pinkish-cream clay oil containers in the form of small deer.
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