area operatoriAlabaster routes
The Ecomuseum is the only place to go to really understand and apprehend the world of alabaster. The museum encompasses the municipalities of Castellina Marittima, Santa Luce and Volterra, where the alabaster is worked, studied, conserved and enhanced.
The Alabaster Ecomuseum differs from a classic museum by being characterised as a “place in time and space”: time, because it is proof of the collective memory of the territory; space, because the formula of the ecomuseum is connected to the particular geomorphological and environmental characteristics of various sites.
Therefore, the ecomuseum is a museum that extends throughout the territory, to visit and learn through many routes, regarding the excavation and working of alabaster.
Over the centuries, along the Marmolaio stream, the presiding features of the municipalities of Castellina Marittima and Santa Luce have been the presence and use of alabaster deposits.
In the valley of the Marmolaio stream, the only tunnel still existing, the “Scaglione” quarry, has been put in operation and is open for visits as part of the discovery of the excavation activity.
The Alabaster Ecomuseum differs from a classic museum by being characterised as a “place in time and space”: time, because it is proof of the collective memory of the territory; space, because the formula of the ecomuseum is connected to the particular geomorphological and environmental characteristics of various sites.
Therefore, the ecomuseum is a museum that extends throughout the territory, to visit and learn through many routes, regarding the excavation and working of alabaster.
Over the centuries, along the Marmolaio stream, the presiding features of the municipalities of Castellina Marittima and Santa Luce have been the presence and use of alabaster deposits.
In the valley of the Marmolaio stream, the only tunnel still existing, the “Scaglione” quarry, has been put in operation and is open for visits as part of the discovery of the excavation activity.
Archive materials regarding the extraction processes are conserved in the Punto Museale Centrale of Castellina Marittima (ex Opera Pia building).
Volterra is the heart of alabaster working. The working of alabaster has produced objects of great artistic value and spawned a very important specialist craftsmanship here since the age of the Etruscans and Romans. Cinerary urns and sculptural archaeological artefacts can be seen in the famous Volterra Guarnacci Museum.
Craftwork products in alabaster can be purchased and there are craft shops to visit in Volterra and the surrounding area.
