Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller

You may wish to read a page on Ancient Volterra first.

Palazzo dei Priori (aka Palazzo Pubblico or Comunale) in Piazza Maggiore

Modern Volterra is but a country-town, having scarcely above four thousand inhabitants, and covering but a small portion of the area occupied by the ancient city. The lines of its battlemented wall, and the towered keep of its fortress, give it an imposing appearance externally. It is a dirty and gloomy place, however, without architectural beauty; and save the heavy, feudal-faced Palazzo Pubblico, hung quaintly all over with coats of arms, as a pilgrim with scallop-shells - so many silent traditions of the stirring days of the Italian republics - and richer still in its Museum of Etruscan antiquities; save the neat little Duomo, and the alabaster factories, which every one should visit, there is nothing of interest in modern Volterra.
George Dennis - The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria - 1848
It is believed that Volterra was one of the last of the Etruscan cities to fall into the hands of the Romans. In the 13th century, in which most of the principal buildings were erected, the town had a revival. (..) Returning up the hill from the Porta dell'Arco and turning left into the Piazza, we find, on the left, the stately Palazzo Communale, covered with shields of podestas, some of them in rich terra-cotta frames.
Augustus J.C. Hare - Cities of Northern and Central Italy - 1876
On a cold, grey, windy afternoon of April, Sunday, always especially dismal, with all the people in the streets, bored and uneasy, and the stone buildings peculiarly sombre and hard and resistant, it is no fun. I don't care about the bleak but truly mediaeval piazza: I don't care if the Palazzo Pubblico has all sorts of amusing coats of arms on it. (..) In short, I am hard to please.
David Herbert Lawrence - Etruscan Places - Published in 1932, but based on a visit made in April 1927.

Tower of Palazzo dei Priori

The Palazzo Pubblico was begun in 1208, and finished in 1257, as recorded in an inscription in the quaint Latin rhyme of the period. The Gothic facade is covered with coats of arms; but the windows, as in most of the buildings which surround it, have been modernized. The Palazzo contains the museum and public library.
John Murray - Handbook for travellers in Central Italy - 1843
The building is regarded as the oldest remaining medieval town hall of Tuscany. The tower calls to mind those of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence and of Palazzo Comunale of Montepulciano. It has an unusual pentagonal shape and its upper section was added in 1846, after an earthquake had damaged it.

Palazzo dei Priori: (left) Colonna del Marzocco, the lion of Mars, a symbol of the Florentine rule (see those at Cortona and Montepulciano); (right) coats of arms of the Florentine governors of the town (see similar series of armorial bearings at Arezzo and Massa); the image used as background shows the coat of arms of Zanobi di Riccardo de' Borgognoni, captain and commissary in 1474; his coat of arms shows eight pills, two more than that of the Medici; it can be seen also at Cortona where he was appointed in 1476

The two lions sustaining the arms of Florence were added when the Florentine republic assumed the sovereignty of Volterra, and appointed one of its own citizens as the captain of the people. Murray
Volterra tried to retain its independence and the control of several mines in the environs of the town, but it experienced growing difficulties in the XIVth century, because of the interferences of Pisa, Siena and Florence. In 1361 Florence acquired the de facto control of the town and in 1472 an open rebellion by the citizens of Volterra led to the sack of the town. In 1530 another attempt failed.

Palazzo dei Priori - Sala del Maggior Consiglio: Annunciation and Sts. (left) Cosma, Damiano, (right) Giusto and Ottaviano, patron saints of the town (attributed to Niccolò di Pietro Gerini and Iacopo di Cione - 1383)

The assemblies of the representatives of the most important families of Volterra were held in this hall since 1257. It still houses the meetings of the Town Council. The hegemony and eventually the direct rule of Florence had an influence on the choice of the artists who worked in the town; in particular those who painted this fresco were both active in Florence.
After the Etruscan Museum was relocated to Palazzo Desideri Tangassi in 1876, Palazzo dei Priori housed the Painting Gallery of Volterra until 1982, when it was moved to Palazzo Minucci Solaini.

Palazzo Pretorio seen from Palazzo dei Priori

Palazzo Pretorio indicates a building housing a tribunal (see those at Cortona, Castiglion Fiorentino and Gubbio), but in origin it was made up of six tower houses having the same height and belonging to important local families including the Belforti who opposed the hegemony of Florence. Paolo aka Bocchino Belforti was rumoured to be trying to sell Volterra to Pisa and it was executed after a short trial in Piazza Maggiore on October 10th, 1361 at the presence of the troops sent by Florence.

(left) Torre del Porcellino or del Podestà of Palazzo Pretorio; (right) Palazzo del Monte Pio

The seventh building forming Palazzo Pretorio was the residence of the podestà, a magistrate who exercised supreme power in a libero Comune (free Town), usually for a short period of time. In order to avoid the intense strife so common in Italian civic life, the podestà was a foreigner. At Volterra the high tower was eventually assigned to a commissario di giustizia sent by Florence.
Palazzo di Monte Pio indicates the building were the local Monte di Pietà was relocated in 1690 from Palazzo Vescovile. The charitable institution was instituted as a bank for the poor, who, if the sum was not great, could have money upon pawns. It was founded in 1494, so it is among the oldest ones in Italy.

Details of Palazzo Pretorio: (left) a window; (centre) "il Porcellino"; (right) a coat of arms on the passage to Palazzo del Monte Pio

Torre del Podestà is best known as Torre del Porcellino (piglet) because of the name given to a roughly sculptured statue of an animal. The nickname probably originated after a bronze copy of an ancient Roman statue portraying a boar which was placed in 1640 in a market in Florence and became popularly known as "il Porcellino". A piglet is associated with the worship of Demeter and Kore and a temple dedicated to Demeter has been identified in the Etruscan acropolis (see a statue of Kore holding a votive piglet from Ariccia).

Palazzo Vescovile (Bishop's Palace)

In origin the building was the granary of the town. It was assigned to the Bishops of Volterra in the second half of the XVth century when their palace was pulled down to make room for Rocca Nuova, an imposing fortification on the eastern side of the town.

Rear side of the Cathedral and a pointed arch window

At first sight Piazza Maggiore lacks the presence of a church, but the rear section of the Cathedral can be seen between Palazzo dei Priori and Palazzo Vescovile. Its XIIIth century design and decoration is based on black and white horizontal bands of marble and it reflects the influence of the churches of Pisa and Florence. It can be noticed also in the Cathedral of Massa.

Tower Houses: (left) Martinoli and Castellucci Buomparenti; (centre) Castellucci Buomparenti; (right) main of three adjoining towers Cafferecci Guarnacci

The Casa Guarnacci with its three towers has an inscription over the door in Gothic characters, which shows that the first tower was erected at the beginning of the thirteenth century, and records the name of its architect, Giroldo da Lugano. This house contains, among other works of art, a fine antique marble statue of Hercules as large as life, and evidently of Grecian workmanship (of the Ercole Farnese type). Murray
The patrician families who controlled the town built around 72 tower-houses (some as high as 50 m) as symbols of their wealth and power. Although only 14 have survived, the town has retained its feudal atmosphere and appearance.
From the 1990 UNESCO statement supporting the inclusion of San Gimignano in the World Heritage List. Volterra, 30 km west of San Gimignano, would have deserved the same recognition given to its medieval rival town, but the latter was made famous by a novel by E. M. Forster (Where Angels Fear to Tread - 1920): As they climbed higher the country opened out, and there appeared, high on a hill to the right, Monteriano (i.e. San Gimignano). The hazy green of the olives rose up to its walls, and it seemed to float in isolation between trees and sky, like some fantastic ship city of a dream. Its colour was brown, and it revealed not a single house - nothing but the narrow circle of the walls, and behind them seventeen towers - all that was left of the fifty-two that had filled the city in her prime. Some were only stumps, some were inclining stiffly to their fall, some were still erect, piercing like masts into the blue. It was impossible to praise it as beautiful, but it was also impossible to damn it as quaint.

(left) Via Guarnacci - Palazzo Taddeini (XVIth century); (right) Via Porta all'Arco

A characteristic of Florentine architecture is the use of bugne, large stones partly projecting from the walls. These are not typical of Volterra where façades of bricks prevail, similar to what occurs at Siena.

Passages: (left) near Piazza Miniucci/Via del Mandorlo; (right) Via Persio Flacco

The small shrunken, but still lordly prehistoric city is perched, when once you have rather painfully zigzagged to within sight of it, very much as an eagle's eyrie, oversweeping the land and the sea; and to that type of position, the ideal of the airy peak of vantage, with all accessories and minor features a drop, a slide and a giddiness, its individual items and elements strike you at first as instinctively conforming. This impression was doubt less after a little modified for me; there were levels, there were small stony practicable streets, there were walks and strolls.
Henry James - Italian Hours - publ. in 1909
The vaulted passages which characterize many old Italian towns were not built for charm, but to strengthen the overall solidity of the buildings in a country subject to earthquakes, to provide a shelter during the windy winter season and for defensive reasons. You may wish to see the vaulted passages of Cervara, a small town near Rome.

Porta S. Francesco: (left) outer gate; (right) its medieval inner door which was strengthened by nails which helped keep the plies of wood together and evidence of frescoes portraying saints above it

The gate, near the church by the same name, stands on a commanding position at the western end of the medieval town. It is almost a double gate, very similar to those built by Siena at Massa.

(left) Porta Fiorentina with the Medici coat of arms; (right) adjoining bastion

The northern gate of the medieval town was not on a commanding position and in the XVIth century the Medici strengthened it by building a bastion next to it. You may wish to see a state-of-the-art fortress overlooking Florence.

Fonte di Docciola (ilustration from "Corrado Ricci - Volterra - 1905")

The design of the fountain, which was built in 1245, is similar to that of fountains of Siena, e.g. Fonte Branda (it opens in another window). It is located near a medieval gate by the same name.

Rocca Vecchia and the wall linking it to Rocca Nuova seen from Museo Guarnacci

The Citadel is divided into two portions: the Cassero, or the Rocca Vecchia, and the Rocca Nuova. The Cassero was built in 1343 by Gualtiere di Brienne, duke of Athens, then lord of Volterra. Its foundations partly rest on the ancient Etruscan walls. The Rocca Nuova was built in the fourteenth century by the Florentines, after they had reduced the city to obedience and placed over it a Florentine as captain of the people. At the same time they constructed, on the site of the old episcopal palace, the famous prison called il Maschio. This is one of the most formidable prisons of Tuscany, and was formerly used for state offenders. It has acquired some celebrity as the scene of the long confinement of the great mathematician Lorenzo Lorenzini. He was imprisoned here in 1682 by Cosmo II., on the unfounded suspicion of being one of the chief instruments in the progress of the correspondence between the Grand Duchess Margaret of Orleans and Prince Ferdinand, to whose court he was attached. He remained a prisoner until the prince's death in 1693. During the eleven years of his captivity he composed the work on conic sections, which still exists in manuscript in four folio volumes in the Magliabecchiana library at Florence. Murray
You may wish to see the Cassero of Castiglion Fiorentino and learn about the origin of the name and the imposing Medici fortress at Grosseto.

Rocca Nuova (il Maschio) seen from Museo Guarnacci

April 1790. The prison or dungeon, called Maschio, merits a visit. The lower cells are completely horrible. In one of these the Conte Felicini was immured fifteen years. The bricks are worn where he was accustomed to walk. On seeing these receptacles, the present Grand Duke (Leopold I) exclaimed that they were not sufficiently horrible for hell, but too horrible for a prison. "Poco per l'inferno; ma troppo per prigione". Since that time no one has been confined in them. This prison was erected in the time of Cosmo de Medici; and being situated on the most elevated ground, it commands the noblest view of the surrounding country, while it forms the best and principal object at a distance.
Richard Colt Hoare - A classical tour through Italy and Sicily - publ. in 1819
Giuseppe Maria Felicini (1626-1715), a noble from Bologna, was held responsible of murder and rape in Fivizzano, a small and isolated possession of Florence, north of Lucca. Notwithstanding the oppressive conditions of his imprisonment he lived in the Maschio for 43 years and died there at the age of 89.
The citadel was converted in 1818 into a House of Industry, or Casa de' Lavori, for prisoners whose crimes do not justify their employment on public works. Woollen cloths and other fabrics are made here. The establishment is well managed, and the houses and workshops are clean and neat. Murray
While the Lorena Grand Dukes improved the living conditions in the prisons of Tuscany, the Popes did not, as testified by the cell at the fortress of San Leo where Count Cagliostro was imprisoned in 1791.
Notwithstanding being a very interesting example of military architecture and its commanding views, the Fortress of Volterra continues to be used as a state prison.

Palazzo Minucci Solaini - Ecomuseo dell'Alabastro: XIXth century alabaster exhibits

A number of workmen are here employed in making vases and other ornaments of alabaster. Colt Hoare
The Alabaster Manufactories here are well worth visiting. Nearly all the vases and other ornamental works which are found in the shops at Florence and Leghorn are made at Volterra; but the statues and figures are manufactured in Florence. The articles sculptured here are cheaper than those sold at Florence by about one-half; and travellers who intend to send home any specimens of this beautiful work will do well to make their selection on the spot. The Messrs. M'Cracken, whose excellent arrangements offer so many facilities to travellers in Italy, have a correspondent at Volterra, Signor Ottaviano Callai. He undertakes to transmit all goods to their correspondents at Leghorn, where they are shipped for England. Murray
We walked the narrow cold streets, whose high, cold, dark stone walls seemed almost to press together, and we looked in at the alabaster workshops, where workmen, in Monday-morning gloom and half-awakedness, were turning the soft alabaster, or cutting it out, or polishing it. Everybody knows Volterra marble - so called - nowadays, because of the translucent bowls of it which hang under the electric lights, as shades, in half the hotels of the world. It is nearly as transparent as alum, and nearly as soft. They peel it down as if it were soap, and tint it pink or amber or blue, and turn it into all those things one does not want: tinted alabaster lamp-shades, light-bowls, statues, tinted or untinted, vases, bowls with doves on the rim, or vineleaves, and similar curios. The trade seems to be going strong. Lawrence
Today, in addition to traditional items, the local manufacturers have developed new objects thanks to the collaboration with Italian and foreign designers.

Move to:
Introduction and the Ancient Town
Museo Etrusco Guarnacci
Churches and Paintings (to be developed)

In Maremma - other pages:
Corneto (Tarquinia)
Corneto (Tarquinia) - Palazzo Vitelleschi and Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Tarquinia
Tarquinia - Etruscan Necropolis of Monterozzi
Montalto di Castro and Canino
An Excursion to Orbetello
An Excursion to Porto Ercole
An Excursion to Grosseto
An Excursion to Massa Marittima