Alabaster: white Volterra stone

Alabaster and its working are closely linked to the history of Volterra and the same artisan knowledge bred from a long tradition of art and craft work can still be found in the workshops of the city today.

In the Etruscan period, alabaster was obtained from the surface quarries close to the city, such as Ulignano and Gesseri. The Etruscans favoured the alabaster to other materials, like tuff or terracotta, for producing funeral urns. These urns were then embellished with alabaster decorations, from the 7th/8th centuries B.C., and are on display in the Guarnacci Museum today.

We know that Romans also used alabaster, although it is not entirely clear if the working was suspended during the Middle Ages or if the articles produced during this period were totally lost.

In any case, there is evidence of a revival in alabaster working from the mid-16th century onwards, with a spell of peak development in the late 18th century, when this working method found its way all around the world with highly prestigious products.

A large part of the renewed distribution of alabaster is down to the phenomenon of alabaster travellers, those who managed to sell the alabaster articles when attending European courts and markets.

A combination of factors led to a severe shortage of material between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, but the masters of design were once again brought to the public eye at the exhibition of Decorative and Modern Art in Paris in 1925, which has been sustained this day through numerous internationally renowned designers choosing alabaster as their media.

Volterra is the city of alabaster and the working of this warm and luminous stone has been handed down through family tradition, keeping this important craft work alive and ready to be discovered by visitors in the workshops scattered throughout the historical centres, with large and small objects on display with something to suit everyone.