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volterra |
| The dramatic location of VOLTERRA - built on a high plateau enclosed
by volcanic hills midway between Siena and the sea - prompted D.H.
Lawrence to write that "it gets all the wind and sees all the world& a
sort of inland island." Its walled medieval core is atmospheric and not
excessively touristed. Everything is made from the yellow-grey stone
panchino , and you can often find seashells embedded in the paving of
streets and squares. Etruscan Volterra (Velathri) flourished through a
combination of its alabaster mines and an impregnable position,
attributes that ensured its survival through the Roman era and beyond.
Its isolation was, however, its downfall. Under Florentine control from
1360, it proved unable to keep pace with changing and expanding patterns
of trade, and the town itself began to subside, its walls and houses
slipping away to the west over the Balze cliffs, which form a dramatic
prospect from the Pisa road. Today, Volterra - part of the Provincia di
Pisa - occupies less than a third of its ancient extent. The Town Dominating the almost totally medieval square of Piazza dei Priori , the Palazzo dei Priori is the oldest town hall in Tuscany, begun in 1208, which may have served as the model for Florence's Palazzo Vecchio. If you find the tower open, pay for the spectacular views from the top (which reputedly stretch to Corsica). Upstairs inside the palazzo (Mon-Fri 10am-1pm, Tues & Thurs also 3-6pm, Sat & Sun 10am-1pm & 2-6pm; L2000/¬1.03) is the Sala del Consiglio , used as the town's council chamber without interruption since 1257. Its end wall is frescoed with a huge Annunciation by Orcagna; just outside, workers are currently restoring Francesco Fiorentino's fresco of the Crucifixion . Leaving the square west past the tourist office, you come to a crossroads overlooked by the Torre Buomparenti . South (left) on Via Roma is the Museo d'Arte Sacra , a rich four-room collection (daily: March-Oct 9am-1pm & 3-6pm; Nov-Feb 9am-1pm; joint ticket with Museo Guarnacci and Pinacoteca L13,000/¬6.71), which includes a silver reliquary bust of St Ottaviano by Antonio del Pollaiuolo and a beautiful sixteenth-century alabaster ciborium. Via Roma continues into the slightly down-at-heel cathedral square, with the Pisan-Romanesque Duomo (consecrated in 1120) and Baptistry (late-thirteenth century). The best of the duomo's works is a sculpture of the Deposition (1228) in the south transept, disarmingly repainted in its original bright colours. Behind the baptistry is an old foundling's hospital decorated by della Robbia. Via Marchesi heads south to a lush area of grass, trees and shade known as the Parco Archeologico (daily 10am-noon & 4-7pm; free). There's not much archeology about the place - a few odd lumps of rock, said to be part of a Roman bathhouse - but it's a beautiful part of the town to lie around for a few hours, and there is a good-value café in one corner. Overlooking the park to the east is the Medicean Rocca , with rounded bastions and a central tower; it's one of the great examples of Italian military architecture and for the last 150 years has been a prison for lifers and hard cases. The first turning off Via Marchesi is Via Porta dell'Arco, which runs downhill to the Arco Etrusco , an Etruscan gateway, third-century BC in origin, built in cyclopean blocks of stone. The gate was narrowly saved from destruction in the last war during a ten-day battle between the partisans and Nazis. |