Touring Volterra

(This is part of our series of posts from our six-week Road Scholar Independent Living and Learning in Florence trip to Italy in Spring 2025. We have an index to all the posts from that trip here.)

On the second day of our Road Scholar weekend “field trip” to the beautiful medieval village of Volterra in western Tuscany, our group had a guided tour through the city, followed by a big lunch and some shopping in the afternoon.

After a lovely buffet breakfast at the hotel–definitely a tourist thing, because most Italians don’t eat a big breakfast–we walked from the hotel to the other side of the old city to meet our tour guide Alessandro. Volterra, like many old towns in Tuscany, was built atop a tall hill to make it easier to defend. But that made all the streets in the old town hilly as well. It was a cool morning due to the elevation and unusually mild spring weather.

Several contemporary sculptures were on temporary display throughout the town. This one echoes the design of ancient Etruscan bronze figurines.

We passed a newsstand that carried magazines from Great Britain, Germany, and probably a few other countries in Europe, as well as from Italy.

Volterra is known for its many art products made from alabaster mined nearby. This was a display in the Ali Alabastri shop. Later in the tour, we would visit an alabaster studio.

We were excited to have Alessandro as our tour guide. He had given the presentation on Italian Body Language that we enjoyed a couple weeks ago, but his main business is working as a very experienced tour guide in Pisa and other areas of western Tuscany.

The first place Alessandro took us to was the KALPA Art Living gallery. Inside the gallery building, we viewed this excavated Etruscan kitchen. The Etruscans were an ancient civilization in Italy for whom present-day Tuscany is named. They flourished from the 9th to the 1st century BCE, leaving a rich legacy of art, architecture, and influence on Roman civilization. The Etruscans were a powerful, sophisticated society known for their skill in metalworking, sculpture, and their distinctive culture.

This Star of David above a door of KALPA Art Living indicates that the building was once a synagogue for Volterra’s Jewish population.

We followed Alessandro (at right, wearing a black backpack) downhill toward the Porta all’Arco. Every street view in these old Italian cities is unique and beautiful!

The Porta all’Arco (Arch Gate) was the southern gate to the city of Volterra, built by the Etruscans between the fourth and third centuries BCE. Each of the two arches enclosed a door–the outer one was defended by a shutter-type door that could be closed quickly, while the inner one was barred by two doors. The separate doors created a hidden entrapment zone above which the city’s defenders could rain rocks, arrows and oil down on any enemy that breached the first door while they were trying to get through the second one. As an additional line of defense, the streets inside the gate were intentionally designed to misdirect attackers back to the city walls rather than into the center of the city.

Outside of the Arch Gate, we could see the large stones lining the entry which date back to the 7th century BCE, while the smaller small stones of the arched vault are from Middle Ages. The city is surrounded by seven kilometers of walls penetrated only by two large gates. This gate was first opened in the 4th century BCE.

This bas-relief placed near the arch in 1984 recalls the people of Volterra who heroically protected it during World War II. On June 30, 1944, during the retreat of the World War II battle lines through Volterra, the German command in the city decided to blow up the gate to make it difficult for enemy American troops to access: however, after pleas by the townspeople, it agreed not to destroy the artifact if it was obstructed within 24 hours. The population of Volterra rushed en masse and managed to seal the monument, completely hiding it from view, by using the paving stones of the surrounding streets, thus protecting the ancient structure.

Our next stop was the Volterra Cathedral. The 5th century church was renovated and expanded in 17th century.

Our group in St. John’s Square, near the Baptistry of Volterra Cathedral.

Around mid-day, a large group of Lamborghini owners cruised into the narrow streets of Volterra for a “drive in”, attracting throngs of onlookers.

Our group visited Rossi Alabastri, a decades-old alabaster studio. In this room, mined raw alabaster awaits crafting.

Alessandro explained how alabaster is sculpted. It’s a solid but relatively soft mineral, made of salt. It can be easily carved, but must be kept dry to prevent it from dissolving.

We watched a demonstration in the alabaster workshop, where a craftsman created a small bud vase on a lathe. The blanks near the front of the table are made from different colors of alabaster, glued together into a single block.

Shaping the foot of the alabaster vase.

Final shaping and smoothing of the vase. At the end of the process, an oiled paintbrush is used to remove the dust, because water would soften the rock.

The finished alabaster vase.

These are the ruins of an Imperial Roman theater, built around the fourth century BCE for performances and political events. Based on its dimensions–60 meters in diameter and 24 steps of seating–historians think it had space for about 3,500 spectators. It was equipped with a velarium, a large fabric cover, held up by ropes, that protected the guests and artists. At the end of the 3rd century BCE, the theater was abandoned and the Romans built the thermal baths that are visible behind the stage. After an earthquake in the fifth century CE, the theater became a garbage dump, eventually filled all the way up to the top of the present-day trees. A Volterra historian discovered the ruins and excavated them in 1952.

Closer view of the ruins of the stage in the Roman Theater.

The Palazzo dei Priori (Palace of the Priors) was and still is the town hall of Volterra. The walls are adorned with the family crests of representatives of the Florentine government.

A selfie on the old city wall of Volterra. Cheryl is wearing an alabaster heart necklace that she bought earlier in the day.

We enjoyed a delicious, multi-course lunch at Osteria Fornelli Volterra.

After lunch, we had the rest of the day free for further exploration of the city and shopping. Cheryl found this flowing vine growing on a home near the edge of the upper city.

Cheryl and Linda admired the evening view of the Tuscan countryside from Volterra.