The Tuscan Archaeological Service

Volterra Directed by: Directed by Dr.M.Iozzo

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One of the most important cities of northern Etruria, ancient Volterra (the Etruscan Velathri, later Volaterrae in Latin) is situated on a high plateau that stands out above the valleys of the rivers Cecina and Era. The entire defensive system of northern Etruria evolved around this powerful city and fortress, which was protected by mighty walls from a very early date; these were first limited to the area around the acropolis, then extended in the late 6th century B.C., until they eventually included part of the area later occupied by the mediaeval historic centre, and further enlarged, in around 350 B.C., by an imposing circle of walls (roughly 7300 m. in length) that surrounded the entire plateau. Although little remains of the old Etruscan settlement, which was gradually built over by Roman, mediaeval and modern constructions, the remains of the city walls, dating from the 4th century, are still imposing, with their gates and monumental entrances, together with the washing-troughs and fountains that are still in use today. The city reached its greatest splendour between the 4th and the 2nd century B.C., and this was mostly due to its fine production of alabaster urns and sculpture; the important remains of the ancient temples built on the acropolis (today included in the city's Archeological Park) are only a few of the reminders of this period compared to the incredible number of necropoli that surround Volterra. The visitor exploring the magnificent countryside surrounding the town will find many examples of chamber tombs which were usually dug out of the rock; some extremely valuable furnishings, many of them displayed today in the local Guarnacci Museum, have been found inside these tombs over the centuries. The remains of the Roman period in Volterra are even more imposing and suggestive and include some of the great public buildings like the theatre, in the Vallebuona area, with a great portico at the rear which contained the thermal baths serving the northern part of the city, added in around 350 B.C.; the baths for the area to the south stood just outside the Gate of San Felice.

Volterra's present "aspect" gives us a very good idea of its articulated historical, urban and architectural stratification: if we climb up on top of any one of the isolated hills that rise amid the suggestive landscape, we can get a view of a mediaeval type city, enclosed within a circle of walls and superimposed by the high walls of the Middle Ages; the city is dominated by the great Medici Fortress, built in 1472 by the Signoria of Florence, dotted with Roman monuments and surrounded by a countless number of ancient tombs (some of the most famous of these are the Marmini and San Giusto hypogei).