From the 7th to the 3rd century BC was a flourishing Etruscan center;from this period it is the important Etruscan necropolis with its grave “Queen” called Hildebrand Tomb. It was then an important city in Roman times, so much that in the early centuries of Christianity became an episcopal see. It was conquered by the Lombards (594), and became the domain of Aldobrandeschi, and then passed to the Orsini Family.
This small town was then destroyed by the Sienese in 1410. It remained in a situation of great neglect for centuries, has had the good fortune to arrive intact to this day in its medieval form. For a long time by historians and travelers it has been identified with “the city of Jeremiah” the dying city. In the Piazza del Pretorio you can admire the Praetorian Palace, the Loggia del Capitano, the Palazzo Archives, as well as the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore and the seventeenth-century Palazzo Bourbon del Monte, partly leaning against the ancient Church of San Mamiliano and; then continuing along “Via del Duomo”, on the left, it is the supposed birthplace of the most illustrious character of Sovana:Hildebrand, who later became Pope with the name of Gregory VII
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