Mauro Staccioli’s work in Volterra
Volterra is a walled city located in the area of the Colline Metallifere (Metalliferous Hills), named so since Etruscan times for the presence of copper, lead, silver and zinc.
The Etruscans, who also mined salt here, knew it as Velathri and held some of their most important gatherings here. Many of the testimonies preserved in the city today date back to this extensive period.
After the Roman conquest, Volterra became municipium. Then, in the Middle Ages, it was an episcopal seat, before coming under the influence of Florence and subsequently the Medici family.
Among the stops not to be missed is the Guarnacci Etruscan Museum, which holds one of the most important collections dedicated to this civilization.
Also from the same period is the striking Porta dell’Arco, dating back to the 4ᵗʰ century BC.
Just outside the center is then the Roman Theater, built in the 1ˢᵗ century BC, adding another layer to the history of the village.
Likewise worth a visit is the Civic Museum, which houses one of the most important works of the late Volterra Renaissance: the Deposition from the Cross by Rosso Fiorentino, a Mannerist masterpiece from 1521.
Overlooking Piazza dei Priori is the Palazzo dei Priori, a symbol of the city’s civic power and among the most significant medieval public buildings in Tuscany.
Not too far away is the Duomo, sober on the outside and rich with 16ᵗʰ-century works on the inside, as well as the Ecomuseum of Alabaster, which recounts a craftsmanship that is deeply tied to the very identity of the city.
Nearby, you come across an unexpected interchange between landscape and contemporary art, thanks to the environmental works of Mauro Staccioli, inserted into the territory as monumental symbols able to confront the antiquity of the landscape.
