Archaeological excavations have been carried out on the top of the hill where the town of Volterra stands, leading to the discovery of a sanctuary complex consisting of temples and other supporting buildings, with a continuity of use since the 7th century BC and ending in the 3rd century AD.
\nSince the city’s origins, the acropolis – the highest part of the hill – has always been consecrated as a place of worship for the entire community living in Volterra. The Etruscans chose for their temples areas from which they could see far into the distance in order to interpret the future from the signs that appeared in the sky (birds in flight and lightning).<\/p>\n
Various temples followed one another over the centuries, but the archaeological remains we can now see here are the remains of the plinths and service buildings of two temples dating from the Hellenistic period (3rd-2nd century BC). This must have been the period of greatest frequentation of the area and new buildings and support structures for temple activity were constructed.
\nEtruscan buildings were constructed of easily perishable materials such as wood and clay that have not survived the passage of time. This is why today in Volterra, as in other centres, only a few remains of what were originally sumptuous and richly decorated buildings can be seen.<\/p>\n
Next to the excavations of the Acropolis is the large Roman Cistern, improperly known as the ‘piscina’, which was built in the 1st century AD, in the Augustan age and used as a water store. It was fed by rainwater from the buildings of Piano di Castello and in turn supplied water to the city’s districts below.
\nThe Cisterna Romana was used in 1965 by Luchino Visconti to shoot some scenes of “Vaghe Stelle dell’Orsa” with Claudia Cardinale and Jean Sorel.<\/p>\n
Opening hours Etruscan Acropolis<\/strong> Tickets<\/strong> The combined ticket is valid for 7 days from issue.<\/strong> The Etruscan acropolis tells the oldest story of Volterra and is part of the ‘Enrico Fiumi’ Archaeological Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":237820,"template":"","village-conntection":[55209],"what-to-see-region-and-provinces":[76217,76210],"what-to-see-category":[28449],"class_list":["post-310873","what-to-see","type-what-to-see","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","village-conntection-volterra-it","what-to-see-region-and-provinces-pisa-en","what-to-see-region-and-provinces-tuscany","what-to-see-category-archaeological-site"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/what-to-see\/310873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/what-to-see"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/what-to-see"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/what-to-see\/310873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"village-conntection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/village-conntection?post=310873"},{"taxonomy":"what-to-see-region-and-provinces","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/what-to-see-region-and-provinces?post=310873"},{"taxonomy":"what-to-see-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/what-to-see-category?post=310873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nUntil 31 October<\/strong>
\ndaily from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
\nFrom 1 November to 15 March
\nSaturdays and Sundays only
\n10:30 to 16:30<\/p>\n
\nSpecial combined ticket for the museums of Volterra
\nfrom 1st May to 30th September
\n7,00 euro
\nfor the Art Gallery, the Alabaster Ecomuseum, Palazzo dei Priori, the Etruscan Acropolis and the Roman Theatre.<\/p>\n
\nFree for under 18s.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"