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VOLTERRA
It was built on a hilly crest among the valleys of the river Era and Cecina, surrounded by a double belt of walls (the Etruscan and the Medieval one). Volterra, in the province of Pisa is one of the most important centre of Tuscany, both for its monuments that testify the civilization that settled during thirty centuries and the working of Tuscan alabaster that nowadays is are considered one of the most typical and traditional products of the Italian art-craft. Volterra it is a town still distant form the stressful rhythm of current life. Those who arrive here have immediately the impression to be in a particular town, revival of an ancient time, trough its narrow streets of a Medieval village, its old crafts of Etruscan town.
Its has a predominant Medieval aspect, keeping many traces of the Etruscan period such as the Porta all'Arco (a gate), the Acropoli, the walls still present in some parts of the town.
The Roman presence is testified by the important traces of the Roman Theatre of the Augustan Age, spas and a big water cistern.
The Medieval feature of the town is not only remarkable in the urban evidence but it may be found above all in palaces, in tower-houses and churches: Priori Palace of XIII c., the Palace of Pretorio, with its crenellated Tower of the Porcellino (Little Pig) Pig, the pair of towers of Buonparenti and the Bonaguidi family, the Cathedral of XII c. that still have remains of Medieval and Renaissance works, the Baptistry, an old work of XIII c. streaked with Volterran stone.
Apart many monuments and numerous evidences of history and art, Volterra offer a sweet hilly landscape that surrounded it. Westwards anyway, this sweet view is abruptly interrupted by a wild and outstanding sight of the Balze (crags). |
