What is Volterra known for?

Carved here continuously since the Etruscans, the workshops on Via Porta all'Arco still cut and polish the soft local stone. One of the twelve Etruscan dodecapolis cities, the only one still occupied on its original ground. The Volterra hills are part of the Tuscan white-truffle territory, celebrated each October at the Volterragusto fair.

Volterra is a comune in the province of Pisa, Tuscany region of Italy, about 91 kilometers from Livorno.

Tuscany · Pisa

Volterra

The Etruscan acropolis of Velathri at 531 meters, the alabaster town that has been carving the same stone for three thousand years.

531m

Elevation

91 km / 57 mi

Nearest hub (Livorno)

9,537

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Volterra sits at 531 meters on a long ridge between the Era and Cecina valleys, one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan dodecapolis and the only one still occupied on its original ground. The Etruscans called it Velathri, the Romans Volaterrae; the Porta all'Arco, with three blackened tufa heads of unknown deities, has been the western gate of the town since the fourth century BC. The Roman theater below the walls, excavated in the 1950s, holds two complete rows of columns and the bath complex behind the stage. Above stands the Palazzo dei Priori, begun in 1208 and the oldest town hall in Tuscany, the model for Florence's Palazzo Vecchio. The town has been carving alabaster since the Etruscans, who used it for funerary urns; the same workshops on Via Porta all'Arco still cut and polish the soft white stone today. Le Balze, the eroded clay cliffs west of town, swallow a few meters of churchyard every century.

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Gallery

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Known for

Porta all'Arco
Etruscan city gate from the fourth century BC, with three eroded tufa heads of unknown deities set above the arch.
Teatro Romano
First-century BC Roman theater excavated in the 1950s, with two complete rows of columns and the bath complex behind the stage.
Palazzo dei Priori
Begun in 1208, the oldest town hall in Tuscany, the architectural model for Florence's Palazzo Vecchio.
Museo Etrusco Guarnacci
One of the oldest public museums in Europe (1761), holding more than six hundred Etruscan funerary urns in alabaster and tufa.
Fortezza Medicea
Fifteenth-century Medici fortress, still used as a maximum-security prison, with the famous Mastio circular keep.
Le Balze
Eroded clay cliffs west of town, advancing inward by a few meters per century and swallowing medieval churches at their edge.
Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta
Twelfth-century Romanesque cathedral with a Romanesque-Pisan façade and a polychrome wood Deposition by anonymous Tuscan masters.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June brings the surrounding clay hills green and the temperatures bearable on the exposed ridge. September and October are the second window, with the white truffle harvest peaking at Volterragusto in late October. July and August are hot and bright at altitude; the town fills with Italian and foreign visitors, and the Etruscan urns at the Guarnacci feel cool by comparison. November through March is quiet. The wind on the ridge can be cutting, the Balze stay dramatic under low light, and the alabaster workshops keep working through winter when there are fewer visitors to interrupt them.