Discovering Sovana: A Hidden Gem of Tuscany.

This is Piazza del Pretorio, essentially the main square.

Hello dear friends,

We are entering the weekend, and today I am practically in Tuscany. You know well that when I have a few days off, I always try to make the most of it to visit someone I care about. This weekend, I went to visit a dear friend of mine who lives near Grosseto. And since some time ago, I had been to the Sorano area, a beautiful locality that is also in the province of Grosseto, knowing about my passion for small places and villages, she wanted to introduce me to this small hamlet in the municipality of Sorano called Sovana.

Yes, we can say that in these parts, they had a lot of imagination with names, and indeed, it's easy to get confused if you don't know the area. Fortunately, I had her as a guide, so I had no problem.

From what I understood, this was once the town hall when this place was a municipality.

As you can see from the photos, even in this beautiful village, the streets are completely paved with stone. I'm always speechless when I see these streets because I wonder how they manage to maintain them; it must be a very complicated thing to do.

While this is the interior of the Cathedral of San Pietro.

Anyway, this small hamlet, which is 10 kilometers from Pitigliano, a village known as the Italian Jerusalem, and about 60 km from Grosseto, is also one of the most beautiful villages in Italy. Naturally, like many villages in Tuscany, it has Etruscan origins and hides necropolises and ancient tombs within. This place, as my friend explained, became famous because Pope Gregory VII was born here in 1073.

I regret not having had the time to visit the Aldobrandesca Fortress, built around the year 1000, because the weather started to worsen at a certain point. Nevertheless, I was able to stroll through the main street that runs through this beautiful village. I especially saw the Pretorio Square, the main hub of this ancient village, a square that has preserved its historical and artistic charm intact.

I was fortunate to find the Cathedral of San Pietro open, the most important church in the village. It is beautiful, constructed around the 1200s, and is, of course, in the Romanesque style with three naves. Unfortunately, some parts of the frescoes have been lost, but it is well-maintained.

In conclusion, my review of this place can only be positive. I managed to discover another hidden gem in Tuscany, a place untouched by mass tourism, as you can clearly see from the photos. So, I invite you to follow the Pinmapple map because I will try to share more hidden gems on that map that, from my humble point of view, are worth seeing in person because it is in person that you can experience the emotions of seeing these places.

In this particular photo, you can see the beauty of the street.

Thank you for the great support you give me every day here. You should know that I am also very moved to read your posts, which are very interesting and so authentically different from any travel magazine.

Have a great day, everyone!