Volterra

{{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Italian comune

File:Aerial panorama of San Gimignano from above. June 2024.jpg

Aerial panorama of Volterra from above, June 2024

File:Volterra from above. June 2024.jpg

Volterra from above, June 2024

Volterra ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; Latin: Volaterrae) is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods.<ref name="CecinaBorgo1758">Template:Cite book</ref>

History

File:Rosso Fiorentino 002.jpg

Rosso Fiorentino. Deposition. 1521. Oil on wood. 375 × Template:Convert. Pinacoteca Comunale di Volterra.

File:Volterra san francesco 003.JPG

Frescoes in the Church of San Francesco

File:Ruin of the Roman theatre, Volterra, Italy.jpg

The Roman theatre

Volterra, known to the ancient Etruscans as Velathri or Vlathri<ref name="Lawrence2013">Template:Cite book</ref> and to the Romans as Volaterrae,<ref name="LawrenceFilippis2002">Template:Cite book</ref> is a town and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy. The site is believed to have been continuously inhabited as a city since at least the end of the 8th century BC.<ref name="BershadMangone2001">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="DK2014">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Guides2015">Template:Cite book</ref>

The town was a Bronze Age settlement of the Proto-Villanovan culture.<ref name="Turfa2014">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It became an important Etruscan centre as one of the "twelve cities" of the Etruscan League.<ref name="Bold1976">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

It was allied to Rome at the end of the 3rd century BC and became a municipium.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref><ref name="Giachi1786">Template:Cite book</ref> The wealthy Caecina family lived here and Gaius Caecina Largus and the eminent Aulus Caecina Severus (consul 2–1 BC) built the theatre and probably other monuments.<ref>F. Sear 2006, p. 13.</ref> Other important families here were the Persii and the Laelii.<ref>A. Furiesi, pp. 73–76.</ref> Aulus Caecina was appointed propraetor of Moesia by 4 AD and later in charge of several legions on the lower Rhine after 14 AD where he led them ably, routing the army of Arminius who had destroyed three Roman legions. He was eulogised by the chroniclers for his exploits and on his return to Rome he was awarded triumph honours.

The city was a bishop's residence in the 5th century,<ref name="Kleinhenz2004">Template:Cite book</ref> and its episcopal power was affirmed during the 12th century. With the decline of the episcopate and the discovery of local alum deposits, Volterra became a place of interest of the Republic of Florence, whose forces conquered Volterra.<ref name="Hinze2000">Template:Cite book</ref> Florentine rule was not always popular, and opposition occasionally broke into rebellion.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> These rebellions were put down by Florence.

When the Republic of Florence fell in 1530, Volterra came under the control of the Medici family and later followed the history of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. In 1472, during the war between Volterra and Florence in the so-called Allumiere war which finished with the sacking of Volterra by the Duke of Montefeltro and his army, it caused the emigration of many wealthy families and the appropiation of their goods.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Culture

The main events that take place during the year in Volterra are

• Volterra gusto<ref name="Planet2014">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Volterra arte
• Volterra teatro<ref name="GonzalezBrasseur2010">Template:Cite book</ref>

Main sights

• Roman Theatre of Volterra, 1st century BC, excavated in the 1950s<ref name="Sear2006">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Steves2007">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Roman Amphitheater discovered in 2015 and has been excavated over the succeeding years<ref>Volterra, the lost Roman Amphitheatre https://www.archaeoreporter.com/en/2020/11/18/volterra-roman-amphitheatre/</ref><ref>Lost Treasures of Rome, International teams of archaeologists embark on a season of excavations to unravel the secrets of life in the Roman Empire, Episode 3 https://www.channel4.com/programmes/lost-treasures-of-rome/on-demand/73653-003</ref><ref>Elena Sorge, Valeria d’Aquino, L’anfiteatro che non c’era. Storia di una scoperta, GIOCHI E SPETTACOLI NEL MONDO ANTICO

problematiche e nuove scoperte, Atti del Convegno Internazionale, 24 Marzo 2018, Reggio Emilia (RE) a cura di Paolo Storchi e Gianluca Mete</ref>

• Piazza dei Priori, the main square, a fine example of medieval Tuscan town squares<ref name="StudentsFodor's1995">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Autoführer-Verlag1962">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Palazzo dei Priori: town hall on main piazza, begun in 1208 and finished in 1257<ref name="BurresiFuriesi2007">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Publications2003">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Pinacoteca e museo civico di Volterra: Art Museum housed in Palazzo Minucci-Solaini.<ref name="Volterra1989">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="BurresiCaleca2006">Template:Cite book</ref> Founded in 1905,<ref name="CarlettiGiometti2001">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the gallery consists mostly of works by Tuscan artists from 14th to 17th centuries.<ref name="Publications2000">Template:Cite book</ref> Includes a Deposition by Rosso Fiorentino.<ref name="Papi1999">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Student'sInc.1999">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Etruscan Acropolis and Roman Cistern. The acropolis on the citadel dates to the 8th century B.C., while the cistern is from the 1st century B.C.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Volterra Cathedral. It was enlarged in the 13th century after an earthquake. It houses a ciborium and some angels by Mino da Fiesole, a notable wood Deposition (1228), a masterwork of Romanesque sculpture and the Sacrament Chapel, with paintings by Santi di Tito, Giovanni Balducci and Agostino Veracini. In the center of the vault are fragments of an Eternal Father by Niccolò Circignani. Also noteworthy is the Addolorata Chapel, with a terracotta group attributed to Andrea della Robbia and a fresco of Riding Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli. In the nearby chapel, dedicated to the Most Holy Name of Jesus, is a table with Christ's monogram, allegedly painted by Bernardino of Siena. The rectangular bell tower is from 1493.
• Volterra Baptistery or Baptistery of San Giovanni, built in the second half of the 13th century.
• Fortezza Medicea (Medicean Fortress),<ref name="SaleKidd2014">Template:Cite book</ref> built in the 1470s,<ref name="FacarosPauls2004">Template:Cite book</ref> now a prison<ref name="HamiltonMacleod2014">Template:Cite book</ref> housing the noted restaurant, Fortezza Medicea restaurant.<ref name=Spiegel>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Reuters>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Telegraph>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Guarnacci Etruscan Museum,<ref name="Cateni2004">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> with thousands of funeral urns dating back to the Hellenistic and Archaic periods.<ref name="McCannN.Y.)1978">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Museum1981">Template:Cite book</ref> Main attractions are the bronze statuette "Ombra della sera" (Template:Literal translation),<ref name="ChamberlinPaterson1994">Template:Cite book</ref> and the sculpted effigy, "Urna degli Sposi" (Template:Literal translation) of an Etruscan couple in terra cotta.<ref name="Steves2015">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Italy2005">Template:Cite book</ref>
• The Etruscan Template:Ill, including the well-preserved Template:Ill (3rd-2nd centuries BC),<ref name="Dennis1848">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="James1995">Template:Cite book</ref> and Template:Ill gates.<ref name="Giovannelli1613">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Banti1973">Template:Cite book</ref>
• The Medici Template:Ill, outside the city, in direction of Lajatico<ref name="BalleriniScalini2003">Template:Cite book</ref>
• There are excavations of Etruscan tombs in the Valle Bona area.
• Sant'Alessandro, Romanesque Roman Catholic church.
• Volterra Psychiatric Hospital, founded in 1888. Closed in 1978, it was reopened for public and will be once more used for psychiatric purposes.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Palazzo Inghirami, Volterra

Transport

Volterra has a station on the Template:Ill, called "Volterra Saline – Pomarance" due to its position, in the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} of Saline di Volterra.<ref name="Jones2004">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Price2012">Template:Cite book</ref>

Notable people

• Persius (34–62), the Roman satirist of Etruscan stock
• Pope Linus, who, according to the Liber Pontificalis, was born in Volterra, and was the successor to Peter<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Lucius Petronius Taurus Volusianus, consul with the Emperor Gallienus in AD 261 and urban prefect in AD 267–268
• Meshullam da Volterra (d. 1508), an Italian-Jewish businessman who traveled to the Land of Israel and surrounding Jewish communities. His works provide concise and important details about the nature and conditions of Ottoman Jewry.
• Daniele da Volterra (1509–1566), Mannerist painter
• The poet Jacopo da Leona, a judge at Volterra in the 13th century
• The Maffei family of Volterra produced the apostolic Secretary Gherardo Maffei and his three sons: the eldest Antonio Maffei, who was one of the assassins in the Pazzi Conspiracy against the Medici in 1478; second the humanist Raffaello Maffei called "Volterrano" who also served in the Curia; and youngest Mario Maffei, who was also a scholar and followed his father in the curia.
• Giuseppe Bessi (1857–1922), sculptor
• Emilio Fiaschi (1858–1941), sculptor

File:Patroclus corpse MAN Firenze.jpg

Menelaus and Meriones lifting Patroclus' corpse on a cart while Odysseus looks on; alabaster urn, Etruscan artwork from Volterra, 2nd century BC

In popular culture

• Volterra features in Horatius, a poem by Lord Macaulay.<ref name="Gilmour2011">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Bentley1988">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Linda Proud's A Tabernacle for the Sun (2005), the first volume of The Botticelli Trilogy, begins with the sack of Volterra in 1472. Volterra is the ancestral home of the Maffei family and the events of 1472 lead directly to the Pazzi Conspiracy of 1478. The protagonist of the novel is Tommaso de' Maffei, half brother of one of the conspirators.
• Volterra is an important location in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. In the books, Volterra is home to the Volturi, a clan of rich, regal, powerful ancient vampires, who essentially act as the rulers of the world's vampire population. (However, the relevant scenes from the movie were shot in Montepulciano.)
• Volterra is the site of Stendhal's famously disastrous encounter in 1819 with his beloved Countess Mathilde Dembowska: she recognised him there, despite his disguise of new clothes and green glasses, and was furious. This is the central incident in his book Template:Interlanguage link.<ref name="Green2011">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Wakefield1984">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Volterra is mentioned repeatedly in British author Dudley Pope's Captain Nicholas Ramage historical nautical series. Gianna, the Marchesa of Volterra and the fictional ruler of the area, features in the first twelve books of the eighteen-book series. The books chart the progress and career of Ramage during the Napoleonic wars of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, providing readers with well-scripted articulate details of life aboard sailing vessels and conditions at sea of that time.<ref name="Parrill2009">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Grundner2007">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Volterra is the site where the novel Chimaira by the Italian author Valerio Massimo Manfredi takes place.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Valerio Massimo Manfredi's The Ancient Curse is also set in Volterra, where a statue called 'The Shade of Twilight' is stolen from the Volterra museum.
• Volterra is featured in Jhumpa Lahiri's 2008 collection of short stories Unaccustomed Earth. It is where Hema and Kaushik, the protagonists of the final short story "Going Ashore," travel before they part.<ref name="Pandey2016">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Volterra is featured in Luchino Visconti's 1965 film Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa, released as Sandra (Of a Thousand Delights) in the United States and as Of These Thousand Pleasures in the UK.<ref name="Bacon1998">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Volterra's scenery is used for Central City in the 2017 film Fullmetal Alchemist (film) directed by Fumihiko Sori.
• The 2016 video game The Town of Light is set in a fictionalized version of the notorious Volterra Psychiatric Hospital.<ref name=RPS>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• "Volaterrae" is the name given by Dan and Una to their secret place in Far Wood in Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill. They named it from the verse in Lord Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome:

<poem>

From lordly Volaterrae,

Where scowls the far-famed hold

Piled by the hands of giants

For Godlike Kings of old.</poem>

• Volterra and its relationship with Medici Florence features in the 2018 second season of Medici: Masters of Florence.

Twin cities

Volterra is twinned with:

• Template:Flagicon Mende, France
• Template:Flagicon Wunsiedel, Germany
• Template:Flagicon Sandomierz, Poland

References

Notes Template:Reflist

Bibliography

• Bell, Sinclair and Alexandra A. Carpino, eds. (2016) A Companion to the Etruscans. Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
• Haynes, Sybille (2000) Etruscan civilization: A cultural history. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum.
• Pallottino, Massimo (1978) The Etruscans. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Sprenger, Maia, and Bartoloni, Gilda (1983) The Etruscans: Their history, art and architecture. Translated by Robert E. Wolf. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
• Turfa, Jean MacIntosh, ed. (2013) The Etruscan World. Routledge Worlds. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

External links

• Template:Official website
• {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}