Volterra - Page 2

The town's museum network is very busy, and not just because of the previously mentioned Guarnacci Museum, with 38 rooms linked to form an educational route and the world's most extensive collection of Etruscan urns. Other sites of great interest are the Pinacoteca Civica art gallery, with prized canvasses including the Descent from the Cross by Rosso Fiorentino and the Annunciation by Luca Signorelli, and the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art, with works from the Cathedral and other churches of the diocese.

Although closed to visitors, the Medicean Fortress is not to be missed. Today it is used as a judicial prison renowned for its theatre company of actors-convicts: the Compagnia della Fortezza, performing during the Volterra Teatro festival.

Even outside of the walls Volterra holds a host of surprises: a visit to the fountain at the Porta Docciola, the Church of San Giusto with its sundial, and the Camaldolese Abbey, abandoned due to the advancing "Balze" (cliffs) but with cloisters and a refectory still intact.

The beauty of Volterra has brought it to be chosen as a setting for various literary and cinema works. Among the literary references are Forse che si forse che no by Gabriele D’Annunzio and numerous novels by Carlo Cassola, including La ragazza di Bube. Cinema works include Sandra by Luchino Visconti, winner of the Golden Lion at Venice in 1965, and Cammina Cammina, a reworking of the history of the Magi made in 1983 by Ermanno Olmi.

Volterra has gained worldwide exposure of late thanks to the Twilight saga, written by the American author Stephenie Meyer, which was then portrayed on the big screen in 2009. Part of the second novel of the saga, New Moon, was actually set in the Tuscan city.

Useful links

Tourist pages on Volterra
Tourist Consortium's Website
Town map
Events in Volterra
Where to sleep

Photo gallery