Pinacoteca e Museo Civico di Volterra (Palazzo Minucci-Solaini)

Volterra’s Pinacoteca and Civic Museum has been housed in Palazzo Minucci-Solaini since 1982. Its collection includes works from the city and its territory, among them Rosso Fiorentino’s Deposition of 1521, Taddeo di Bartolo’s 1411 polyptych, and paintings by Ghirlandaio and Signorelli.

Why it matters

Founded by the municipality in 1868, the gallery brings together art from Volterra’s churches and civic collections. It also displays sculpture, ceramics, medals and coins, tracing the city’s artistic history from the Middle Ages onward.

What to notice

Rosso Fiorentino’s Deposition is a central work of the collection. Other highlights include Taddeo di Bartolo’s polyptych, a fourteenth-century painted crucifix, Ghirlandaio’s Christ in glory with four saints and a donor, and an Annunciation attributed to Luca Signorelli.

Context and history

The collection was first displayed in the Palazzo dei Priori. After early twentieth-century efforts to reunite works from suppressed religious institutions, the gallery moved to Palazzo Minucci-Solaini, opening there in 1982. The Renaissance palace has a porticoed cloister, decorated wooden ceilings and a cistern fed by rainwater from the roof.