CORTONA | The archaeological sites of the area

The Tanella di Pitagora: is it the real grave of the famous Pythagoras?

Among the olive trees located in the street that from Cortona goes down at the bottom of the hill, there is the famous Tanella di Pitagora (Tomb of Pythagoras). Why it is called that way? Is it the real grave of the famous mathematic Pythagoras? In the ancient time, people believed that the grave belonged to Pythagoras for the close similarity of the word Cortona with Croton, the city of Magna Graecia, place where the philosopher lived and taught. In reality this is an Etruscan tomb built during the Hellenic age (II century BC). The owners of the tomb are a famous family of the city, they were called Cusu. This grave has got a peculiar aspect, there aren’t any common constructive characters of the traditional Etruscan burial funerary architecture. It has got one burial chamber, with niches on its sides and at the end of the grave, where usually Etruscans used to put the funerary cinerary urns. The Tanella di Pitagora has always been over the ground, but with the archaeological excavation of nineteenth century, the grave was completely highlighted. In 1929 the tomb was given by the countess Maria Laparelli Pitti to the Etruscan Academy of Cortona, the actual owner. The Tanella di Pitagora, together with Tanella Angori and the Tomb of Mezzavia can be visited during the opening hours of the Archaeological Park of Sodo autonomously.