• Introduction
• The village
• The walls
• The centre
• The Abbey

The Ancient Walls

Scale Sante

Detail

If you walk along Via Cesare Battisti you can view the town walls. These squared-off regular stones are an integral part of the external perimeter of the town. It is also here that you will find one of the elements of major interest: a long section of giant dry walling along part of the northwest wall. The stones, erected one above the other, are typical of an Etruscan wall. They are clear evidence that this was once part of an Etruscan-Roman castle whose remains were lost during the construction of the subsequent medieval town. Other remains from this era can be found within the cantinas (rooms generally used to store oil and wine) that have been built underground and intersect at different points.

An ancient stairway, called "Scale Sante", can also be seen along Via Battisti. Its name comes from an ancient legend which tells of the apparition, on these stairs, of the patron saints Fabiano and Sebastiano, who in this manner saved the town from a terrible epidemic of plague.