Pieve di Socana



Pieve a Socana
In the same place in which one of the most fascinating Romanesque pieve in Casentino was built in the 12th Century A.D., the Etruscans had built their temple and adjoining sacrificial altar seventeen years before.	Photo: G.A.C.
Nowadays, it is possible to see part of the flight of steps in travertine providing access to the Etruscan temple and the large altar in sandstone in good repair. In fact, the entire temple is to be found under the structure of a Paleochristian three-apsed construction, covered in turn by the Romanesque pieve. The fact that this place of worship originally devoted to Pagan gods was then used centuries later for rituals connected to monotheistic gods can clearly be seen.
Photo: G.A.C.	It is not a chance happening that the two Etruscan altars in existence are the Pieve a Socana altar and the Marzabotto altar. Both sites on which they were built are shrouded in mysticim and imbued with spirituality.
From 1969 to 1973, during the restoration of the Romanesque pieve by the Monuments and Fine Arts Service of Arezzo, a large V Century B.C. Etruscan altar was brought to light. The altar consists of large blocks of stone, connected by lead dovetail brackets. Continuing research, an Etruscan temple was discovered; it must have faced east, therefore in the opposite direction to the present church. Nowadays the wide temple entrance steps 18.4 metres long in travertine can be seen. The flight of steps consists of at least twelve steps framed by two moulded quadrangular podia. It is impossible to determine the dimensions of the Etruscan temple as the early Christian Church and Romanesque pieve were built subsequently. On this site we passed from pagan to monotheistic worship. The various "nations" who visited this place perceived and felt it to be suitable for rituals and spiritual worship; it is here that religion incarnates its strong link with the natural environment. Two fetid stone "wheels" were found in the church bearing Etruscan V and IV Century B.C. inscriptions; they were probably votive offerings. The most fascinating discoveries were the V Century B.C. antefixes with a maenad head and the head of Minerva dating back to the Hellenistic Age. Perhaps the temple was connected to a settlement which must have been a river checkpoint, a northwards-northeastwards junction and, moreover, a distribution point for Volterra ceramics also testified in Avena.

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