SOVANA
Distance to Guinza: 52 Km - about 1 hour by carSovana is a fraction of the municipality of Sorano, in the province of Grosseto.
It is known as an important Etruscan center, a medieval and Renaissance village, as well as an episcopal seat.
The center is located in Pianetto di Sovana, a small valley that extends between the hills of Albegna and Fiora, a citation between 200 and 300 meters above sea level, in the heart of the "Area del Tufo" on the left bank of the Fiora river. The territory is affected by the presence of numerous torrential watercourses (Calesine, Folonia, Picciolana, Valle Bona), which then flow into the Fiora just south-west of the town.
Suana was an Etruscan center, which from the conquest of Vulci onwards (280 BC) underwent a gradual process of Romanization, culminating in the creation of the town hall with the granting of Roman citizenship to the Italics.
In the fifth century it is already documented as a bishopric. The current historic center developed during the Middle Ages in the vicinity of the pre-existing Etruscan necropolis, under the control of the Aldobrandeschi family, who had a castle built there around the year 1000. In medieval times it also became a free municipality and was the birthplace of Ildebrando. of Sovana, who later became Pope Gregory VII; it was also the capital of the county of the same name. At the end of the 13th century it was inherited by the Orsini family following the same fate as Sorano and Pitigliano until the 15th century, when the center was conquered by the Sienese. In the mid-sixteenth century, the definitive fall of the Republic of Siena brought Sovana into the hands of the Medici, who incorporated it into the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The Medici tried to repopulate the village, in a state of severe degradation after the plague epidemics, with settlers from Greece: the attempt was useless, in 1702 only twenty-four people were registered in Sovana. Even under the Lorraine, despite the attempts, the situation did not improve. Depopulated and abandoned, it found new life in the course of the twentieth century, thanks to the rich archaeological heritage that makes it a popular tourist destination.
The village is included in the list of the most beautiful villages in Italy sponsored by ANCI