Volterra
(m 531) is a pearl of Etruscan, Roman, Medieval and Rinascimental art
which, from the top of the hill on which it is located, dominates the
valleys of the rivers Cecina and Era, distant circa 30 km from the Tirreno
Sea coast, on the northern part of the Colline Metallifere.
The Etruscan
city of "Velathri", experienced a vast development between the IV and
V century b. c. It became on of the twelve cities occupied by the Etruscan
kings with a population which reached the 25.000 inhabitants and, thanks
to the port of Vada, it began to export manufactured products in iron
and alabaster throughout the Mediterranean Sea. Before becoming a free
council in 1193, Volterra has been a Roman town council and then the seat
of a powerful episcopate ruling over a large diocese. While a free council,
the city's appearance changed quite radically: a new and narrower wall
was built; the Priori square, previously Piazza del Prato, was rearranged
with the reconstruction of the Palazzo del Popolo, accomplished between
1208 and 1257 (then Palazzo dei Priori), and of several adjacent tower-houses.
Also a new Dome and a new Baptistry were rebuilt, both representing the
religious core of the old city centre.
After being
conquered by Florence in 1472, Volterra will start to flourish again only
at the end of 18th century, under the Lorena dynasty.
If on the
one hand the isolated location of the city has limited the industrial
and commercial development, on the other it has preserved the city from
other contamination, leaving untouched the charming atmosphere of the
ancient village which boasts many great monuments built during the 30
centuries of his history, and a craftsmanship unique in the world: the
manufacture of alabaster.
Besides the
several palaces facing the squares and the streets of the city centre,
worth visiting is the Etruscan Museum "Mario Guarnacci", one of the most
important Etruscan collections of Italy, which contains also the famous
Etruscan statue, Ombra della Sera (Evening's Shadow, 3rd century B. C.).
The Dome, consecrated in 1120 and then enlarged and refurbished in several
stages, offers works by Mino da Fiesole, Andrea della Robbia and Benozzo
Gozzoli. The Museum of the Opera del Duomo di Arte Sacra, contains, among
other treasures, the altar-piece Villamagna, representing the Madonna
with his child and saints realised in 1521 by Rosso Fiorentino; the art
gallery and the Civic Museum, with works by Taddeo di Bartolo, Benvenuto
di Giovanni, Luca Signorelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio (Cristo in Gloria),
Baldassarre Franceschini also called "il Volterrano" and the Deposition
of the Cross by the Rosso Fiorentino (1521); of the Roman Theatre (1st
century B. C. Î 1st century A. D.), whose structure could contain an audience
of 1700 people, are still visible parts of the rows with two orders, the
proscenium, the stage and part of the arcade, where later was inserted
a thermal building.
