Editing Volterra (section)

== History ==
[[File:Rosso Fiorentino 002.jpg|thumb|right|Rosso Fiorentino. ''Deposition''. 1521. Oil on wood. 375 × {{convert|196|cm|0|abbr=on}}. Pinacoteca Comunale di Volterra.]]
[[File:Volterra san francesco 003.JPG|thumb|right|Frescoes in the [[San Francesco, Volterra|Church of San Francesco]]]]
[[File:Ruin of the Roman theatre, Volterra, Italy.jpg|thumb|right|The Roman theatre]]

Volterra, known to the ancient [[Etruscans]] as ''Velathri'' or ''Vlathri''<ref name="Lawrence2013">{{cite book|author=D. H. Lawrence|title=Etruscan Places|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtR8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT97|date=16 April 2013|publisher=Read Books Limited|isbn=978-1-4474-8782-1|pages=97–}}</ref> and to the Romans as ''Volaterrae'',<ref name="LawrenceFilippis2002">{{cite book|author1=D. H. Lawrence|author2=Simonetta de Filippis|title=Sketches of Etruscan Places and Other Italian Essays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m8xZVl5RjQ4C&pg=PA315|date=11 July 2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-00701-6|pages=315–}}</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">{{cite book|author1=David Bershad|author2=Carolina Mangone|author3=Irving Hexham|title=The Christian Travelers Guide to Italy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=llTiET5oCR4C&pg=PA220|year=2001|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=978-0-310-22573-7|pages=220–|quote=The famed local industry, working alabaster, has also proved an enduring industry in Volterra. Begun in the 8th century B.C., alabaster carving continues today as the traditional Volterran trade. The prehistoric Villanovan settlement (9th century ...}}</ref><ref name="DK2014">{{cite book|author=DK|title=Eyewitness Travel Family Guide Italy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UqZQAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA202|date=1 May 2014|publisher=Dorling Kindersley Limited|isbn=978-1-4093-5398-0|pages=202–|quote=Truly ancient clifftop city Volterra is perhaps the most dramatic and unusual city in the region. Founded by the Etruscans in the 8th century BC, it is perched on a high plateau of volcanic rock and surrounded by medieval walls, some ...}}</ref><ref name="Guides2015">{{cite book|author=Insight Guides|title=Insight Guides: Tuscany|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OHXXCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT524|date=2 November 2015|publisher=APA|isbn=978-1-78005-543-5|pages=524–|quote=These include Etruscan (8th–2nd century BC) sites at Volterra, Fiesole, Arezzo, Chiusi, Vetulonia and on the island of Elba. There is an archaeological museum in Florence, and other museums in Volterra, Chiusi, Cortona, Asciano, Grosseto ...}}</ref> 

The town was a [[Bronze Age]] settlement of the [[Proto-Villanovan culture]].<ref name="Turfa2014">{{cite book|author-link1=Jean MacIntosh Turfa|author=Jean MacIntosh Turfa|title=The Etruscan World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Ofa_0Y5Iu8C&pg=PA134|date=13 November 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-05523-4|pages=134–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Haynes|first=Sybille|title=Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History|publisher=Getty Trust Publications|date=2005|location=Los Angeles|pages=30|language=en|isbn=978-0-89236-600-2}}</ref> It became an important [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] centre as one of the "twelve cities" of the Etruscan League.<ref name="Bold1976">{{cite book|author=Alan Norman Bold|title=Cambridge Book of English Verse, 1939-1975|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sko7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA220|year=1976|publisher=CUP Archive|isbn=978-0-521-09840-3|pages=220–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Damgaard Andersen|first=Helle |title=Urbanization in the Mediterranean in the 9th to 6th Centuries BC|publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press|date=1997|location=Copenhagen|pages=344|language=en|isbn=9788772894126}}</ref>

It was allied to Rome at the end of the 3rd century BC and became a [[municipium]].<ref>{{cite thesis|title=Rural Change and Continuity in Etruria: A Study of Village Communities from the 7th Century B.C. to the 1st Century A.D.|doi=10.17615/sc1p-nv51|year=2008|pages=340–|quote=Volterra: A Roman City with an Etruscan Hinterland Rome first reached a settlement with Volterra at the end of the 3rd century B.C. when the city was declared an allied municipium. Volterra only entered fully into the control of Rome with ...|last1=Vander Poppen|first1=Robert E.}}</ref><ref name="Giachi1786">{{cite book|author=Anton Filippo Giachi|title=Saggio di ricerche sopra lo stato antico e moderno di Volterra dalla sua prima origine fino ai nostri tempi per facilitare ai giovani lo studio della storia patria opera del sacerdote Anton-Filippo Giachi rettore del regio spedale di detta città ..|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L2ZgMvLIGIAC&pg=PA8|year=1786|publisher=nella stamperia di Pietro Allegrini alla Croce Rossa|language=it|pages=8–|quote=Ma il colpo fatale dei Romani, e di Volterra fu nell' anno di Roma 474 ... tam bonestum municipium.}}</ref> The wealthy [[Caecinia gens|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">{{cite book|author=Christopher Kleinhenz|title=Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2CTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT1038|date=2 August 2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-94880-1|pages=1038–|quote=The lordship of a distant (and often preoccupied) bishop provided many opportunities for civic selfdetermination. On his hill, the bishop of Volterra built a castello as a residence when he was in the area. This, with its church of Santo Stefano, ...}}</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">{{cite book|author=Peter Hinze|title=Florence&nbsp;— Fiesole, Prato, Pistoia, San Gimignano, Volterra, Siena: An Up-to-date Travel Guide; &#91;with Fold-out Map&#93;|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=72qmpyp1sXYC&pg=PA6|year=2000|publisher=Hunter Publishing, Inc|isbn=978-3-88618-773-7|pages=7–}}</ref>  Florentine rule was not always popular, and opposition occasionally broke into rebellion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/italy/volterra/background/history/a/nar/d5fb974e-c2e8-4bf7-9700-7ad9df2e9612/360054|title = History in Volterra, Italy}}</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>{{cite journal |url=https://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/english_pdf/Volterra.pdf |title=Eucharistic Miracle of Volterra |access-date=27 November 2023 |year=2006 |work=Istituto San Clemente I Papa e Martire |publisher=Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration Association}}</ref>