Pinacoteca Comunale di Volterra. Volterra is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods. Volterra, known to the ancient Etruscans as Velathri or Vlathri and to the Romans as Volaterrae, is a town and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy. The town was a Bronze Age settlement of the Proto-Villanovan culture, and an important Etruscan center, one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan League. The site is believed to have been continuously inhabited as a city since at least the end of the 8th century BC. It became a municipium allied to Rome at the end of the 3rd century BC. The city was a bishop's residence in the 5th century, and its episcopal power was affirmed during the 12th century.With the decline of the episcopate and the discovery of local alum deposits, Volterra became a place of interest of the Republic of Florence, whose forces conquered Volterra. Florentine rule was not always popular, and opposition occasionally broke into rebellion. These rebellions were put down by Florence. When the Republic of Florence fell in 1530, Volterra came under the control of the Medici family and later followed the history of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Volterra has a station on the Cecina-Volterra Railway, called Volterra Saline-Pomarance due to its position, in the frazione of Saline di Volterra. Roman Theatre of Volterra, 1st century BC, excavated in the 1950s. Piazza dei Priori, the main square, a fine example of medieval Tuscan town squares. Palazzo dei Priori, the town hall located on Piazza dei Priori, construction begun in 1208 and finished in 1257. Pinacoteca e museo civico di Volterra in Palazzo Minucci-Solaini. Founded in 1905, the gallery consists mostly of works by Tuscan artists from 14th to 17th centuries. Includes a Deposition by Rosso Fiorentino. Volterra Cathedral. It was enlarged in the 13th century after an earthquake. It houses a ciborium and some angels by Mino da Fiesole, a notable wood Deposition, a masterwork of Romanesque sculpture and the Sacrament Chapel, with paintings by Santi di Tito, Giovanni Balducci and Agostino Veracini. In the center of the vault are fragments of an Eternal Father by Niccolo Circignani. Also noteworthy is the Addolorata Chapel, with a terracotta group attributed to Andrea della Robbia and a fresco of Riding Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli. In the nearby chapel, dedicated to the Most Holy Name of Jesus, is a table with Christ's monogram, allegedly painted by Bernardino of Siena. The rectangular bell tower is from 1493. Volterra Baptistery of San Giovanni, built in the second half of the 13th century. Fortezza Medicea, build in the 1470s, now a prison housing the noted restaurant, Fortezza Medicea restaurant. Guarnacci Etruscan Museum, with thousands of funeral urns dating back to the Hellenistic and Archaic periods. Main attractions are the bronze statuette Ombra della sera, and the sculpted effigy, Urna degli Sposi of an Etruscan couple in terra cotta. The Etruscan Walls of Volterra, including the well-preserved Walls of Volterra, and Porta Diana gates. The Medici Villa di Spedaletto, outside the city, in direction of Lajatico. There are excavations of Etruscan tombs in the Valle Bona area. The main events that take place during the year in Volterra are Volterra gusto. Volterra arte. Volterra teatro. Persius, the Roman satirist of Etruscan stock. Pope Linus, who, according to the Liber Pontificalis, was born in Volterra, and was the successor to Peter. Lucius Petronius Taurus Volusianus, consul with the Emperor Gallienus in AD 261 and Urban Prefect in AD 267-268. Daniele da Volterra, Mannerist painter. The poet Jacopo da Leona was a judge at Volterra in the 13th century. The Maffei family of Volterra produced the apostolic Secretary Gherardo Maffei and his three sons: the eldest Antonio Maffei, who was one of the assassins in the Pazzi Conspiracy against the Medici in 1478; second the humanist Raffaello Maffei called Volterrano who also served in the Curia; and youngest Mario Maffei, who was also a scholar and followed his father in the curia. Emilio Fiaschi, sculptor. Volterra features in Horatius, a poem by Lord Macaulay.