The town of Volterra, shaped by centuries of history, stands as an enduring witness to the past, where every narrow alley is steeped in memories and every stone seems to tell a story. Around the picturesque Piazza dei Priori, the narrow streets of the medieval town intertwine, enclosed by the original 13th-century walls. This was the period of the city’s greatest golden age, when both its urban landscape and social life revolved around two main centers of power: the Palazzo dei Priori, seat of the municipal government, and the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, symbol of episcopal authority. Yet Volterra boasts far more ancient origins, whose architectural remains are still embedded in the urban fabric today, such as the famous Porta dell’Arco, dating back to the Etruscan era, and the magnificent Roman Theatre.
Etruscan Volterra, the Acropolis and the Porta dell’Arco
On the summit of the hill overlooking the valleys of the Cecina and Era rivers, where Volterra stands today, the first settlement emerged in the Villanovan period, between the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Archaeological excavations have uncovered several characteristic necropolises with both shaft and pit graves belonging to this culture. Remains dating back to the Villanovan period can also be found among the ruins of the Acropolis, located at the foot of the medieval fortress and within the Enrico Fiumi Park. Here, archaeologists have found traces of cult practices dating back to the 7th century BC. These include a small bronze statue of an offerer1, dedicated to a deity similar to the Roman Dis Pater2.
During the 6th century BC, however, burial practices began to change. We have evidence of the use of chamber tombs and finely crafted cinerary urns, as well as the placement of commemorative marker stelae, all of them signs of the cultural transformation that laid the foundations for the development of Etruscan civilization. The coins from this period, now kept at the Guarnacci Museum, bear the name of the city: Velathri3. During the 6th and 5th centuries BC, fortified walls were erected on several occasions.
The temples of the Acropolis
The stone foundations of several buildings used for worship since the end of the 6th century BC have been uncovered in the Acropolis of Volterra. Only a few fragments of rough-hewn stone, terracotta fragments and some roofing slabs remain of an early temple4. In the mid-5th century BC, this building was replaced by a larger sanctuary just to the north. This is the late-Archaic temple, of which a portion of the polygonal masonry facing remains. The construction technique suggests that the structure may have been of imposing dimensions. The interior of the temple was covered with red and white plaster and polished limestone5. The decorative elements were also of great value, in particular the terracotta works created by craftsmen hired from southern Etruria6.
The late Archaic temple gradually fell into disuse. The second half of the 3rd century BC saw the reorganisation of the sacred spaces, with the enlargement of the temenos and the construction of two adjacent buildings. The great Temple B, with a cella and a colonnade of Tuscan order, rose on the ruins of the pre-existing building. Just a few decades later, the Romans erected the Temple A. Hellenistic in style, it had a single hall with a short pronaos and high podium.
The history of Etruscan Volterra at its apogee
The renovation of the Acropolis in the 3rd century BC took place during a period of great prosperity and population growth, as evidenced by the increase in burials within the known necropolises. During this period there is evidence that alabaster was being worked in Volterra. Local craftsmen used the valuable stone to create elaborate cinerary urns depicting mythological scenes.
In the same century, the Etruscans of Volterra completed the expansion of the gigantic sandstone wall that enclosed a large area of the hill and the fields below7. The remains of the Porta di Diana and the famous Porta dell’Arco, built with blocks of tuff and later incorporated into the medieval walls, have been preserved. The gate represents an early use of the round arch in Italic architecture. It is characterized by the presence of three heavily worn carved heads, placed on the jambs and the keystone. It is unclear what or whom these carved faces depicted. Scholars have speculated that they were the protomes of the city tutelary deities Tinia (Jupiter), Uni (Juno) and Menrva (Minerva).
Volterra’s membership in the Dodecapolis further attests to the town’s importance at the time. The Dodecapolis was the confederation consisting of the twelve most influential military and political centers in Etruria.
The history of Volterra in Roman times
The victory of the Roman troops against the Etruscan coalition at Lake Vadimone in 283 BC marked the beginning of the decline of all the lucumonies of the Dodecapolis8. Volterra surrendered around the middle of the 3rd century BC. The Romans renamed the city Volaterrae and granted it the status of a municipality under the Lex Iulia de civitate of 90 BC. During the civil war, Volterra sided with Marius, and Sulla’s troops therefore laid siege to the city for a long time. Exhausted, it surrendered in 80 BC, but the presence of influential aristocratic families in the city, as we shall see shortly, mitigated the political and military consequences.
In the Augustan age the municipium of Volterra was included in Regio VII Etruria9. A period of renewed prosperity brought extensive redevelopment of the urban fabric. This led to the construction of the magnificent theatre of Volterra, a venue for theatrical performances and public assemblies. Because of its political function, the structure was likely located not far from the Forum, which has not yet been identified by archaeologists. The only clue is provided by the name of an early medieval church: San Michele in Foro10.
The Theatre
The Theatre was built on the slopes of the high ground facing north, toward Vallebuona basin, so that it had excellent natural acoustics. The wealthy city gentes, including the Caecinae family11, contributed to its construction. This act of evergetism benefited the population of Volaterrae. Nonetheless, it also had certain political aims, not least the desire to ingratiate themselves with Emperor Augustus. Not surprisingly, A. Caecinae Severus and C. Caecinae Largus are mentioned in a dedicatory epigraph of the Theatre as consuls in Rome12.
The monument was conceived in accordance with the typical architectural canons of the Roman theatre13. A sacellum used for imperial worship surmounted the cavea. It partly rested on the hillside and was partly raised on opus caementicium substructures. A vaulted ambulatory in fact supported the summa cavea, allowing visitors access to the lower sectors of the steps. The scaenae frons consisted of a half-moon niche and two side doors. Fine white marble adorned the pavement of the semicircular orchestra.
In Volterra we find some rooms associated with theatrical performances, known as parascenia. A velarium covered the entire cavea, providing shade for the spectators. The theatre accommodated about one thousand five hundred spectators. They could even walk along a colonnaded porticus that ran behind the stage. In the center of the portico, between the second and third centuries AD, a thermal building was constructed with dressing rooms (apodyterium), frigidarium, tepidarium, and calidarium.
The Medieval history of Volterra and the two centers of power
With the exception of a few remnants from earlier centuries, mostly sections of the walls with the Etruscan gates, the Acropolis, the Theatre and an amphitheatre, the Medieval and Renaissance development largely obliterated the ancient structures. The growth of a residential neighborhood affected the area now occupied by the Enrico Fiumi Archaeological Park with the Acropolis. However, the dwellings were demolished in 1472 to make way for the renovation of the fortress. In contrast, Vallebuona area, which houses the Theatre and the thermal complex, has preserved ancient vestiges due to its use for the dumping of city waste. Indeed, nothing survives even from the Lombard age, although the town of Volterra was the seat of an important gastald. Extensive renovations in the Romanesque period erased traces of the early cathedral. The advance of landslides near the Balze has rendered the early medieval churches of San Clemente and San Giusto unusable.
The Diocese of Volterra and the Cathedral
During the first barbarian invasions of the fifth century, well-fortified Volterra was the seat of a diocese. It extended roughly along the boundaries of the Roman municipium. Some letters of Pope Gelasius I from the years 495 and 496 mention the bishop of Volterra Eucharistus and his predecessors Eumazio and Opilione15. According to tradition, the city boasted important Christian ancestry since it gave birth to the first successor of Saint Peter, Pope Linus16.
At the end of Lombard rule in 774, the advent of the Franks created a political power vacuum in Volterra, which the bishop gradually came to fill. This led to substantial imperial concessions to the diocese, such as that of Louis I the Fair in 82117. It was Guido (1042-1061) who transformed the episcopal office into a territorial lordship. This had jurisdiction over a large part of the territory of Tuscia. In the second decade of the 12th century Bishop Ruggero Gisalbertini (1103-1132) ordered the reconstruction of the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. The liturgical calendar compiled by archpriest Ugo attests the consecration of the building on May 20, 1120, in the presence of Pope Callistus II18.
The structural layout consisted of a nave and two aisles arranged in a Latin-cross plan. In the 13th century the construction of quadrangular chapels in place of semicircular apses modified it. Today the interior decorations reflect the late Renaissance appearance of the Cathedral. Only the elevation, in Pisan Romanesque style, allows one to perceive its original Medieval soul. The stepped Romanesque façade, divided into three sections by pilasters, is bare except for a few lozenge-shaped ornaments and the small corbel arches at the top. The quadrangular bell tower arose at the end of the 15th century.
The history of Volterra in the Age of the Commune and the advent of the Gothic style
The temporal power of the episcopal lordship of Volterra achieved its peak under Galgano (about 1150-1170). However, growing demands for greater autonomy within the Commune eventually led to his assassination by the angry mob19. From that point on, the diocese entered a spiral of crisis. This culminated in the loss of most of its ecclesiastical privileges over the city, despite the staunch opposition of bishops Ildebrando Pannocchieschi (1185-1211) and Pagano Pannocchieschi (1212-1239).
The 13th century saw numerous monastic orders settle in the town of Volterra, most notably the Cistercians. The followers of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux introduced a significant artistic innovation that had already produced extraordinary results at the impressive Abbey of San Galgano in Chiusdino: Gothic architecture. The Baptistery of San Giovanni, for example, has Cistercian sculptural and architectural features. This octagonal structure, located in front of the cathedral, features a single ornate façade with bichromatic detailing and a splayed portal.
The Baptistery displays the symbolism associated with those monastic orders, not least the Knights Templar, who certainly passed through here. On the façade of the building and on the palaces overlooking the square, one can see mysterious depictions of the Cross Pattée and the Flower of Life.
Palazzo dei Priori in the town of Volterra
The Cistercian Gothic style also characterizes Palazzo dei Priori, the seat of power of the free Commune. We can see the architectural influence of the Order’s craftsmen in the ribbed cross vaults, the mullioned windows with hooked capitals and the striking verticality of the tower, set on a quadrangular block. The Florentines took the Volterra building as a model for the construction of Palazzo Vecchio.
Palazzo dei Priori was an architectural landmark for the town of Volterra. The other public buildings of the 13th century and the most important noble house-towers followed its style. The reconstruction of the city walls also dates to the middle of the century. After a few years, Volterra became embroiled in the heated disputes between the Guelphs Belforti and the Ghibellines Allegretti. With the expulsion of the latter in 1340, the townspeople proclaimed the Signoria. But the rule of the Belforti did not last long. The town became a possession of Florence as early as 1361. Hence, Volterra lost that centuries-long autonomy that had characterized it since the earliest Etruscan settlements.
Samuele Corrente Naso
Notes
- M. Bonamici, Volterra (PI). Santuario dell’acropoli, in Notiziario della Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana, 2/2006, Volterra, 2007. ↩︎
- G. Belloni, Dis Pater, in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae III, 1986. ↩︎
- F. Burchianti, Museo Etrusco Guarnacci, scheda 79, Pacini Editore, Pisa, 2013. ↩︎
- M. Bonamici, Volterra. L’acropoli e il suo santuario, Pisa 2003. ↩︎
- M. Bonamici, L. Rosselli, E Taccola, Il santuario dell’acropoli di Volterra, in E. Govi, La città etrusca e il sacro. Santuari e istituzioni politiche, Atti del Convegno,
Bologna, 21-23 January 2016. ↩︎ - Ibidem. ↩︎
- A. M. Esposito, Le mura di Volterra. Profilo storico-archeologico, in R. Sabelli, Mura etrusche di Volterra: conservazione e valorizzazione, Pisa 2012. ↩︎
- H. Nissen, Italische Landeskunde, II, Berlino 1902. ↩︎
- Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, III, 50. ↩︎
- F. Schneider, Regesta Chartarum Italiae. Regestum Volaterranum, 1907. ↩︎
- M. Munzi, Il teatro romano di Volterra: l’architettura, in G. Cateni, Il teatro romano di Volterra, Octavio, Firenze, 1993. ↩︎
- E. Fiumi, Volterra. Scavi nell’area del teatro romano degli anni 1950-1953, Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, s. VIII, vol. IX, 1955. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 11. ↩︎
- A. Caleca, Volterra d’oro e di Pietra, Pacini Editore, Ospedaletto (Pi), 2006. ↩︎
- M. L. Ceccarelli Lemut, Cronotassi dei vescovi di Volterra dalle origini all’inizio del XIII secolo, in Pisa e la Toscana nel Medioevo, 1, Pisa, 1991. ↩︎
- Liber Pontificalis, 6th-7th century. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 10. ↩︎
- Biblioteca Guarnacci of Volterra, L. 4.17 (inv. 5789), in De Sancti Hugonis actis liturgicis, trascrizioni a cura di mons. M. Bocci, Firenze, 1984. ↩︎
- L. A. Cecina, Notizie istoriche della città di Volterra, a cura di F. Dal Borgo, Pisa 1758. ↩︎
