Volterra: mysterious Tuscany
If you want to visit a different Tuscany, we recommend to book your next holidays in Volterra, among Etruscan ruins, medieval architecture, Renaissance paintings and a ver y original territory. Volterra is a magical town where historical tradition joins a beautiful and special nature.
The city is located a few kilometers from Siena, San Gimignano and the Chianti Classico territory. Here, history has left its mark with continuity from the Etruscan period until the nineteenth century, with monuments of great importance, which can be seen just walking through the old town. Every corner of the city presents well-preserved signs of its past.
From here passed many different civilizations like the Etruscan, Roman, medieval and Renaissance. The walls, the arch and numerous archaeological finds of the Etruscan Museum date back to the Etruscan period. From the Roman era there is the Theatre, built in the Augustan age, that can accommodate up to 2000 spectators.The Palazzo dei Priori, in the Piazza dei Priori, dates back to the mid-thirteenth century and was built using as a model the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, which actually looks like it so much! The Cathedral of Volterra is a Romanesque building built around 1120 that holds within it a number of works of great value.Medici fortress was finally built by the Medici family of Florence and consists of two cones joined by a boundary wall.
The city has, to this day, a typical medieval aspect, with thirteenth century walls and characteristic stones: roads, towers, buildings and walls are all characterized by a yellow-gray stone called sandstone, from which often emerge shells of rare beauty.
The city also houses an ancient craft traditions tied to alabaster, a stone that stands out for its unique softness, is processed more easily than marble and is therefore suitable to reproduce motifs on a small scale or to portray the human face.
Perched on top of a picturesque hill, Volterra overlooks a stunning landscape that changes with the seasons but always retains a romantic mystique aura. The Cliffs of Volterra are the result of a geological phenomenon characterized by gullies and other rocky and sandy formations caused by the action of weathering on the clay soil. A friable ground that swallows everything and on which legends abound.
To visit Volterra also means experiencing the magic of the ancient traditions of this really unique place. Among the many forms of hospitality that can be found here - such as hotels or B&B - it must be said that the most popular solutions are farmhouses and holiday homes that offer the opportunity to live in close contact with nature and the beauty of the place.
