Kosher butcher

The Kosher butcher’s shop, also dug into the tuff. Luckily, it’s not all underground if you suffer from claustrophobia.

What you can see in the photo above is the slaughterhouse. The butchers of ghetto they brought the animals down here to kill them according to Kosher rules.

The meat was then taken above ground to be sold to members of the Jewish community and sometimes even to the enterprising inhabitants of the rest of Pitigliano who knew how good the meat tasted.

Historians believe that the butcher’s shop was built at the same time as the rest of the ghetto, in the 16th century, and was dug into the tuff due to lack of space.

Pitigliano is famous for its narrow winding alleyways and the ghetto, while picturesque, was originally very small, so the locals had to do everything they could to maximize the space available.