Tanella di Pitagora

The Tanella di Pitagora is an Etruscan chamber tomb on the slopes below Cortona. Its traditional name recalls a later association with Pythagoras, rather than the identity of the people buried there.

Why it matters

The monument preserves a form of family burial from the Hellenistic period. Its later interpretation also illustrates how the rediscovery of antiquity could give an ancient structure a new and misleading name.

What to notice

A circular sandstone base surrounds the compact rectangular chamber. A short entrance passage leads towards niches intended for cinerary urns, with large stone blocks forming the vaulted covering. An inscribed urn lid has supported an association with the Cusu family.

Context and history

The tomb belongs to the later Etruscan funerary landscape around Cortona. Its Pythagorean name developed through the confusion of Cortona with Crotone, the southern Italian city associated with the philosopher. Giorgio Vasari recorded the monument in 1566. Excavation and study developed in the nineteenth century, and Countess Maria Laparelli Pitti donated the site to the Accademia Etrusca in 1929.