Jewish Cemetery

As you drive into Pitigliano, you can see the Jewish cemetery. It sits right at the foot of the town, on the edge of the cliff overlooking the countryside.

As the story goes, the cemetery was built in the second half of the 16th century by Niccolo IV Orsini, who was honouring his personal doctor, a young Jewish man who had just lost his wife. The cemetery was quickly filled with other members of Pitigliano’s Jewish community.

Today it’s closed to visitors and has been for many decades. As you approach it, you can see a giant statue of an angel with the words “Famiglia Sadun”. The Sadun family was one of Pitigliano’s most prominent Jewish families. They owned a lot of property in the town and in the surrounding neighbourhoods.