Volterra Things to Do

Chiesa di S.Agostino (St.Austin Church) was built in 1280 and restored in 1728 in the nowday style. The interior has got three naves and there you can see the Sepolcro di Alessandro Riccobaldi (Grave of Alessandro Riccobaldi) and some frescoes.

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Throughout the city are small private shops selling alabaster. It all is very beautiful and a great variety of items. Volterra is the city of stone. Alabaster is calcium carbonate or hydrated calcium sulphate, which is the chalky look. The word is derived from Egypt and named after a town called Alabastron that made vases. The whole city is made of stone, and alabaster was first carved by Etruscans for urns and vases. The trade died out, but revived in late 1600's, so near 1800's there were 60 certified tradesmen in the town. Now there are less, maybe around 10-12 that perform the work for a living, and only 2-3 are open for viewing by the public. They all do sell their wares and invite you to take one home.

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Museo Etrusco Guarnacci is a must during your visit of Volterra. It was founded in 1877 and it is one of the most important Etruscan collections of Italy. In the rooms you can see beautiful examples of funeral urns among which you must see the wonderful Urna degli Sposi (Grave of the Bridegrooms) and the sarcophagus from the ipogeo of the Flaves; frescos coming from necropolis next to Volterra; beautiful objects among which the marmoreal head called Lorenzini and the beautiful bronze called Ombra della Sera (Shade of the Evening).

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There are a number of streets and alleys that eventually take you from the front to the back of the city up at the top of the hill. The width is only about 3-4 blocks, so you will not get lost easily.

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In front of the fortress there is the nice park Enrico Fermi where you can relax. On the north side of the park you can see the Etruscan Acropolis of the town. There you can see some cisterns and two ruins of temples: one has got a rectangular shape and was built in the second century B.C., instead the second one was a Tuscanian temple built in the third century B.C.

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The Fortezza (fortress) is located on the most elevated point of the hill and it is one of the most formidable fortress that the Renaissance architecture has built in Italy. The fortress is found on the place of the Etruscan acropolis and ir is formed from two bodies: Rocca Vecchia built in 1342 by the duke Gualtieri di Brienne with a trapezoidal shape and a semiellittic tower; Rocca Nuova built among 1472 and 1475 by Lorenzo il Magnifico with a square shape and for towers on the corner and a big one in the middle of the fortress.
The two fortresses are always been used as jail and they are still nowday.

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Via Matteotti is located in front of Piazza Martiri della Libertà. In this street you can see many houses-towers and many palaces built int the 13th century. There you can see Casa Torre Allegretto, Palazzetto Rossi e Miranceli and Palazzo Maffei.

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Porta dell'Arco Etrusco (Etruscan Arch) is one of the symbol of the town of Volterra. It made part of the surrounded walls of the fourth century B.C. The external stipidis are original, while the archivolt in full center (6 meters tall) was referred by the Romans and they put there three heads (protecting divinity of the entry). The piedrittis of the interior arc and the two interior walls are etruscan and they were made of enormous rocks of limestone of tufo.