Volterra, the city of the Etruscans

For the visitor to the Val di Cecina, Volterra can’t be missed. She herself calls and lures the visitor between her ancient walls, between her Etruscan tombs, between her alabaster shops and her restaurants. The whole of Volterra speaks of history. The great stones of tuff remind us that it was one of the most important Etruscan cities of Tuscany. The Etruscan Guarnacci Museum is witness to that greatness. There are also important Roman remains, like the amphitheatre, the fountains, the great gates, the walls. The other museums are also rich in treasures: the civic art gallery, the Sacred Art Museum, the Ecomuseo dell'Alabastro, the torture museum. What did leave an unmistakeable mark on Volterra was the medieval period, the same city layout, the paved streets, the narrow alleyways takes the visitor back to past times, of tower houses, of court, of ladies and knights. The most spectacular example of this period is Palazzo dei Priori on the highest point of the city, used as a model for the construction of the famous Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.

Pisa

Visitors to Pisa mustn’t miss the Campo dei Miracoli the Square of Miracles, a monumental complex from medieval Europe. A high quality example of Romanesque architecture, a unique example in the context of architecture of all times: a collection of candid and refined forms that stand out from the green of the most famous lawn in the world. The readily available marble – coming from the nearby Carrara quarries – with the influence of Greek and Islamic art has produced that particularly luminous colour diffused not only in the surrounding areas, but also in areas further afield that had been influenced by Pisa: Puglia, Sardinia and Corsica.

Each monument – the cathedral, the leaning tower, the baptistery, the cemetery – has been built in a coherent, uniform whole in which the dominant theme of small columns surmounted by small arches has been similarly copied by several buildings in the square.

The position of each of the single monuments follows a precise plan derived from astrological symbolism linked to the three stars of the constellation of Aries, to which the city of Pisa wanted to rename itself.

Florence

Florence is considered to be one of the most beautiful cities of the world, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982. Whoever comes to Tuscany cannot miss visiting Florence. Here saw the light the finest works of literature and of the Italian language from Dante Alighieri, it is also the cradle of art and of architecture in the most spectacular forms that man has ever realised. Here, began, and developed, the Renaissance, art, culture and man’s knowledge. The names of the men who gave life to this birth are famous all over the world, just think of artists and architects such as Giotto, Masaccio, Donatello, Brunelleschi and Michelangelo.

Every corner of the city is witness to her history, the greatness of her times and men, impressed in the streets, in the monuments, in the buildings and in the museums. In the Piazza del Duomo for example, you can see one of the most beautiful of all the Italian cathedrals, S. Maria del Fiore, built between 1296 and 1461 in gothic stile with it’s impressive Brunelleschi dome and Giotto’s bell tower. Not far away is the beautiful Piazza della Signoria, with its imposing mediaeval appearance, symbol of Florence for over six hundred years with Palazzo Vecchio at its centre. Behind and linked to the Corridoio Vasariano facing the Arno is one of the most remarkable and visited museums of the world: la Galleria degli Uffizi, built between 1560 and 1574 by Giorgio Vasari.

The visitor will be captured by the beauty they find walking around Florence and looking down from the Piazzale Michelangelo will feel an emotion that would be impossible to describe in these few lines.

Siena

Siena is submerged amongst olives, vineyards and vegetable gardens in the countryside that surrounds it, a unique landscape that has in many areas remained unaltered since the mediaeval. Here is the real face of Siena: a city that doesn’t end in the city, but lives, as in the past, in harmony with the surrounding countryside. Inside the great Palazzo Pubblico, the affresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti reminds us of a city of this kind.

The visit to Siena starts like this then, with a journey that takes you along roads that seem to have been painted on soft hills, amongst farmhouses sown by the hands of yesterday’s farmers. The visitor is invited to enter the walls of the city almost without realising where the country ends and the city begins. All the roads, once within the walls, lead like magnets towards the heart of Siena, Piazza del Campo, which opens before your eyes as one of the most beautiful inner-city views in the world. Here is where the historical horse race – il Palio - takes place.

The cathedral, the Santa Maria della Scala hospital and la Torre Del Mangia are only some of the most representative monuments to be seen. The whole city is itself a monument to its glorious past. Still today amongst the ancient buildings is one of the oldest universities in Europe.

Copyright © 2024 Home   P.I. 01780080501