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Volterra is a city with an unmistakably medieval appearance, where it is still possible to enjoy the atmosphere of an ancient village, whose authenticity is protected by the relative isolation that limited the development of the center in the industrial era, safeguarding the city from building speculation.

In Volterra, history has left its mark with continuity from the Etruscan period to the nineteenth century:the city is very rich in artistic testimonies of great importance, to be admired by walking through the streets of the historic center and visiting the city museums, such as the Etruscan Museum, the Art Gallery, the Museum of Sacred Art, or the Alabaster Ecomuseum. And the beauties continue even just outside the historic center, where it is possible to admire the splendid Roman Theater, as well as the ruins of the Etruscan Acropolis. The traveler at this point will only have to admire the surrounding unspoiled landscape before discovering the secrets of a rare craft production: that of alabaster.

Modern Volterra is enclosed almost entirely within the circle of the thirteenth-century walls, the culmination of a process of urban expansion that began around the year 1000 and found fulfillment some 300 years later with the construction of defensive systems near the city gates. In that period Volterra grew from the castrense form of the Late Antique period (5th century), extending to its present perimeter. The center developed around the ancient church of Santa Maria (today’s cathedral) and the adjoining pratus episcopatus, today’s Piazza dei Priori, while outside the castrum or castellum, the boroughs of Santa Maria and Abbot arose after the year 1000.