Ursinea monument

Located at the foot of Palazzo Orsini, this travertine statue was created in 1500 to celebrate the marriage between the Orsini’s youngest son and the last of the Aldobrandeschi’s daughters.

The statue is a heraldic bear roaring in what I think is a very ferocious manner. The bear was the symbol of the Orsini family and the statue also bears an inscription in Latin, which speaks of the power of the powerful family.

Since the inhabitants of Pitigliano loved their Orsini rulers, the statue was also seen as a sign of their power as a city.

Pitigliano in the Middle Ages was one of the strongest cities in the Maremma and its inhabitants loved to remind their enemies of this fact.