Museo Civico Archeologico all'Aperto Alberto Manzi
About two kilometres outside Pitigliano's tufa-rock town, a wooded slope drops toward the Meleta river valley before rising again to the Gradone plateau — and it is here, cut into the same soft volcanic stone as the town itself, that you find an open-air museum laid out across actual Etruscan ground. The tombs are not reconstructions moved indoors. They are where they always were, one-, two- and three-room chambers hewn from the earth between the late seventh and early sixth centuries BCE, with a sunken via cava still running between them.
The museum divides into two zones: the Città dei Vivi, where a Bronze Age circular hut and an Etruscan three-room house with portico have been reconstructed, and the Città dei Morti, the necropolises of Gradone and San Giovanni. Walking between them, you pass through the kind of landscape that makes the archaeology feel less like a display and more like an interrupted afternoon.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who come back tend to time their visit for a weekday morning in early June, when the site is quiet enough to hear the birds and the light through the trees is still low enough to throw the tomb doorways into proper shadow. The combined ticket with the Museo Civico Archeologico della Civiltà Etrusca in town is worth taking — the two collections read against each other.
The story behind Museo Civico Archeologico all'Aperto Alberto Manzi
The museum exists because of a schoolteacher. Alberto Manzi — pedagogue, novelist, author of Orzowei, and briefly mayor of Pitigliano — conceived the project during his 1995–1997 term in office. His driving concern was practical: Etruscan funerary sites on the Gradone plateau were being degraded by neglect and picked over by illegal excavators. An open-air didactic museum, he argued, would protect the necropolises by making them visible and visited.
Manzi died on 4 December 1997, before a single stone was laid. The museum that bears his name opened on 3 July 2004, seven years after he proposed it. The San Giovanni necropolis it preserves remained in use until the fourth and third centuries BCE; the Gradone cemetery is older still, active from the second half of the seventh century BCE.
Good to know
The museum sits on Strada Provinciale 127 (Via di Pantano), roughly 2km from town — bring walking shoes or a car. Open Wednesday–Sunday, 10:00–13:00 and 16:00–19:00 in summer 2025; closed Monday and Tuesday. Entry is €4 full price, or €6 combined with the town's Etruscan museum. Wheelchair accessible.
The site is fully outdoors on a wooded hillside, so the season matters. May, June, and September are the most comfortable months — warm without the August heat, which pushes above 30°C. Winter visits between November and February mean shorter hours, possible mud on the paths, and occasional snow in January and February.
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What travellers say about Museo Civico Archeologico all'Aperto Alberto Manzi
Only for experts, both in terms of the subject matter and the objective difficulty of the route. Hiking shoes are required; avoid if it has rained in the previous few days. The site leaves much to the imagination; it is not suitable for small children.
My family and I took a wonderful excursion with our guide Irene, who explained many of the site's details with enthusiasm and expertise. Anyone who has never seen the Vie Cave doesn't know what they're missing (I recommend visiting after a few days of good weather, as the ground can be slippery given some treacherous sloping sections).
I was in Pitigliano for a weekend, we also saw this place, the lady was very kind, you need suitable shoes for walking, the municipality should invest more to attract more people, it's worth it
This morning my husband and I had the opportunity to take a guided tour of the archaeological park. A unique site, absolutely worth a visit. The via cava (cave) along the route thrilled and amazed us, and the lush nature complemented the experience. A huge thank you to our guide, Irene, for accompanying us on this journey, for introducing us to the Etruscan world, and for providing a true journey into the past.
A beautiful walk through the woods to see two Etruscan necropolises. Plus, an interesting view of Pitigliano from below. The tuff can be very slippery; 3-knee boots and poles are recommended.
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