Vie Cave di Pitigliano

The Vie Cave around Pitigliano are deep corridors cut into the plateau's tuff, associated with Etruscan settlement and later use as routes through the landscape.

Why it matters

Known locally as cavoni and also called tagliate, the sunken roads reveal how communities shaped movement through the volcanic terrain. Their high rock walls, cut passages, tombs and springs connect the plateau settlements with their surrounding countryside.

What to notice

The routes vary in form and setting. The Via Cava dell'Annunziata includes a religious niche, caves associated with a hermitage and a columbarium. San Giuseppe passes chamber tombs and the Fonte dell'Olmo. Fratenuti crosses the Meleta and preserves rock-cut crosses and remains of a Roman columbarium. Madonna delle Grazie is an eighteenth-century cutting near an old mill and sanctuary. At Poggio Cani, hollows in the rock served as cellars, stores and animal shelters.

Context and history

The Vie Cave belong to the wider network of roads through the tuff country around Pitigliano, Sorano and Sovana. Their origins are generally associated with the Etruscan period, while some sections were reused, altered or extended in medieval and later times. The passages connected settlements, water sources and necropoleis. The Gradone route is incorporated into the Alberto Manzi open-air archaeological area, which includes reconstructed structures and archaeological displays.