Acropoli Etrusca e Cisterna Romana

Volterra’s Etruscan Acropolis preserves the remains of the city’s principal ancient sanctuary beside the Medici fortress. Its archaeological area includes two Hellenistic temples, service buildings with painted plaster, and an Augustan-period Roman cistern.

Why it matters

The sanctuary’s history reaches back to the mid-seventh century BC, and its sacred use continued into the Roman period. The two temple platforms date from the third and second centuries BC; the cistern later supplied water to the lower quarters of the city.

What to notice

The temples differ in plan. The earlier Tempio Beta follows a Tuscanic design and was surrounded by a sacred enclosure, parts of which were lost to quarrying. Tempio Alpha has a Greek-derived plan and a deep cistern shaft. A nearby second-century BC building yielded polychrome geometric wall painting, some fragments of which are preserved in the Guarnacci Museum.

Context and history

Rainwater collection was important on the hilltop, which has no springs. The Roman cistern, sometimes nicknamed the “piscina,” gathered water from buildings on the Piano di Castello and supplied the quarters below. In 1965, Luchino Visconti filmed scenes of Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa in its vaults.