Pitigliano, Municipality of the Roots

The experience

As part of the events, the Municipality of Pitigliano offers appointments to revive traditions and culture, to make known the places dear to the community, witnesses of the history of the village.

Inside the “F. Zuccarelli” Municipal Library, also home to the Municipal Archive, for the duration of the period a section entitled “The drawer of memory” will be set up where it will be possible to receive and collect photographs, letters, tickets that will compose an archive of memories that bind people to our village and to the memories of the community. The documents will be scanned, collected and catalogued.

County Day August 14-17, 2024

Laboratories:

• August 14 at 10:00 a.m . “Niccolò: the man and the leader” Meeting with the guide at the IAT – tourist information office Piazza G. Garibaldi 10. Visit to the Orsini Palace retracing the deeds of the Orsini family and in particular of Count Niccolò III (1442-1510), valiant and courageous leader of the County of Pitigliano.

Meeting with two figures of the historical procession in the role of Nicholas III and his wife, Countess Elena Conti, who will accompany visitors in the rooms of the Palace and then to the market specially set up during the days of the Festival. It will be an opportunity to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the party by taking a leap in time, the Renaissance Pitigliano, learn about the specially prepared dishes that will cheer the diners during the banquet dinner, and finally the organizers who animate the days of the event.

• 17 August at 10 am: mid-August biscuit, which is part of the 464 Traditional Agri-Food Products and which represent a sort of historical collection, is a dish that was the mid-afternoon snack of the workers employed in threshing operations (threshing at a standstill on the farmyard).

Waiting for the Torciata 23-25 August 2024

The event is the anticipation of the Torciata di San Giuseppe which takes place every year on March 19th.

The Torciata represents the essence of the Pitigliano community as more than any other festival it goes to the roots of the popular traditions of our village. Waiting for the Torciata therefore wants to recreate the atmosphere that you breathe when theInvernacciu (a gigantic puppet built with reeds) which represents winter and which will be burned on the night of March 19 by forty twisters carrying a bundle of flaming reeds on their shoulders. Participate in the Corteo de ‘i villanu, which parades through the alleys and animates the squares of the village, is to step into the shoes of the women and men who lived in the early ‘900, to relive the climate of Adolfo Denci’s photographs that made the faces of simple people immortal, in fact it often happens that looking at those photographs you recognize people and relatives.

Laboratories:

• 23 August at 10 am: construction of the bundles of reeds. Together with the members of the event, the construction of the bundles that are carried on the shoulders of the torchers on the night of March 19.

• 23 August at 9 pm: procession of ‘i villanu participation in the parade with songs and dances.

• 24 August 10am: St. Joseph’s pancakes, the classic dessert prepared for the celebration.

• 25 August at 10 am: Migliaccia Pitiglianese, which is part of the 464 Traditional Agri-Food Products -which represent a sort of historical collection-, is a dish strongly linked to the tradition and history of the village.

Festa delle Capanne Sukkot 16 – 18 ottobre

The Feast of Tabernacles is characterized by the huts, in fact, a joyful feast that recalls the stay of the Jews in the desert after their liberation from slavery from Egypt: forty years in which they lived in precarious dwellings, accompanied, however, according to tradition, by “clouds of glory”. The Sukkot festival is a unique opportunity for citizens to explore, learn and celebrate the fundamental principles of hospitality, brotherhood and respect for nature, as well as immerse themselves in the history and meanings of this holiday.

• October 17 at 10 am: construction of a small Sukkah hut to take with you, as a special souvenir of this unforgettable day.

• 18 ottobre ore 10: lo sfratto, A typical Jewish dessert whose origin dates back to the mid-eighteenth century. In the early seventeenth century, an edict of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo II de’ Medici ordered the Jews who lived in the area to leave their homes, to concentrate in the “ghetto” close to the Synagogue of Pitigliano. The “eviction” was ordered by the bailiff and the notifying messenger through the ritual gesture of banging on the door of Jewish houses with a stick. The Jews of Pitigliano and Sorano, a century later, wanted to remember the impositions suffered with the creation of this dessert which took on a name and shape inspired by this sad story.

Today, however, it represents the strong bond between the two communities, Jewish and Catholic, it is included in the list of 464 Traditional Agri-Food Products and is produced throughout the year, but especially during the Christmas holidays of the Catholic religion.

Urban trekking – 31 October 2024

Works of art and works of genius

The panorama around Pitigliano is an unspoiled landscape, the cliff on which the village rests stands proud and silent. A land that is sometimes tame, sometimes hostile, a land inhabited by people who have left a mark, each sensing the need for a community and finding solutions. So here are farmers who tame the nature of small sparnette to obtain vegetable gardens; they dig caves in the bare rock, transforming them into cellars, tool sheds or shelters for the donkey, a faithful companion.

A land of engineers, who, defying the laws of nature, brought water by building a daring aqueduct as early as the sixteenth century and, in 1898, exploiting the same power of water, donated electricity.

A land of artists who draw inspiration from the landscape and transfigure it into verses, sculptures, paintings, create refuge for soul and heart.

Guided tour and cooking workshop

• 31 October at 10 am: Migliaccia Pitiglianese, which is part of the 464 Traditional Agri-Food Products -which represent a sort of historical collection-, is plate A product strongly linked to the tradition and history of the village.

• 31 October at 3 pm: sweet tortello, which is part of the 464 Traditional Agri-Food Products -which represent a sort of historical collection-, is a dish strongly linked to the tradition and history of the village, and reminiscent of that of the savory tortello with ricotta filling, but soaked in alchermes, it ended Sunday lunches.