Volterra attractions

Volterra's attractions span about twenty-eight centuries, and most of them are within ten minutes' walk of one another.

The Porta all'Arco is the Etruscan gate of the 3rd–2nd centuries BC, still carrying traffic at the foot of the lane named after it. The Etruscan acropolis and the Roman theatre of Vallebuona — 1st century BC, excavated in the 1950s — are the two archaeological areas, and the theatre is unusual in being best seen for free from the walls above it.

The Museo Etrusco Guarnacci, at via Don Minzoni 15, is one of the oldest public museums in Europe, founded in 1761. Thousands of Hellenistic and Archaic funerary urns, the bronze Ombra della sera and the Urna degli Sposi.

The Palazzo dei Priori, begun in 1208 and finished in 1257, holds the town's medieval centre, and the Pinacoteca and civic museum its picture collection.

The Ecomuseo dell'Alabastro covers the trade that has run here since the 8th century BC and still does — and the working workshops in the streets are as much of an attraction as the museum.

The Fortezza Medicea, built in the 1470s, is visible from outside only: it is a prison.

All six municipal sites are covered by the 72-hour Volterra Card, €23.