Sovana is a beautifully and carefully conserved medieval village dedicated to maintaining a charm that dates back centuries. The city walls are all tufaceous rock, the pavement in the street and piazzas are herringbone brick and the margins of the town are the beautiful and fertile plains of the Tuscan Maremma.

The town centre was built during the Middle Ages next to a pre-existing Etruscan necropolis. Sovana was ruled by the Aldobrandeschi family who built a magnificent castle here during the 11th century.

During the medieval era, Sovana was a free municipality and the birthplace of Ildebrando di Sovana, who later became Pope Gregorio VII. After 200 years of freedom the town was placed under the control of the Orsini Counts, who already possessed the towns of Sorano and Pitigliano. Sovana remained this way until the 15th century, when the Sienese conquered the entire territory. In the mid-16th century the Republic of Siena collapsed in spectacular fashion and Sovana fell into the waiting hands of the Medici, who incorporated it into the Gran Duchy of Tuscany.

Sovana was at its most breathtaking during the 11th and 12th centuries, a period when all the town’s splendid churches and public buildings were built and of which few remain today. The picturesque Pretorio Piazza is one of them and is today the heart of the town. Next to this lovely piazza are the Pretorio Palazzo, decorated with an array of coats of arms, the Bourbon Palazzo del Monte, and the Church of Santa Maria, the town’s oldest building and home to the curious Archivo Palazzetto.

From the Pretorio Piazza the two main streets divide heading in different directions only to be reunited once again at the feet of the magnificent Romanesque Cathedral.