Volterra Cathedral

Volterra Cathedral tickets: which one to buy

Volterra Cathedral stands on the Piazza San Giovanni in the hilltop town of Volterra, in Tuscany, a few steps from the Piazza dei Priori, and entry to the cathedral is included in a combined ticket that also covers the baptistery and the diocesan museum, or it may be free at certain times. Volterra is about an hour and a half from Florence and an hour from Pisa and Siena, and it is often visited on day tours of Tuscany together with San Gimignano, about half an hour away.

Walking tours of Volterra combine the cathedral with the Etruscan Arch, the Roman theatre, the Guarnacci Etruscan Museum, the alabaster workshops and the medieval walls. The town is also known to fans of the Twilight novels, which set a vampire clan here. The cathedral is active, and visiting pauses during services. Parking is outside the walls. Buses from Florence and Siena connect via Colle di Val d'Elsa, and the journey takes about two hours.

Visiting Volterra Cathedral: what to see

The cathedral was consecrated in 1120 by Pope Callixtus II and enlarged in the thirteenth century, with a Romanesque facade of stone and a marble portal. Its interior was remodelled in the sixteenth century, with a coffered and gilded wooden ceiling decorated with figures of saints, and columns covered with stucco imitating marble. The cathedral holds important works of art: a thirteenth-century wooden sculpture group of the Deposition from the Cross, with life-size painted figures, one of the most moving works of Romanesque sculpture in Italy; a marble pulpit with carved reliefs of the twelfth century, including the Last Supper; and a tabernacle by Mino da Fiesole.

The chapel of the Addolorata holds a terracotta nativity scene attributed to the della Robbia workshop and a fresco of the procession of the Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli. Opposite the cathedral stands the octagonal baptistery, with striped stone. The baptistery's font was carved by Andrea Sansovino in 1502, and the building's green and white striped facade faces the cathedral. The bell tower beside the cathedral was rebuilt in the fifteenth century. The diocesan museum displays silverwork, paintings and sculptures from churches in the area, including a bust of Saint Octavian. The cathedral's side chapels hold paintings by Florentine artists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The piazza around the cathedral is quiet and paved in stone.

Volterra Cathedral opening hours and the best time to go

The cathedral is open daily, with a break at lunchtime. Volterra is busy with day trippers in summer, especially in the middle of the day, and evenings are much quieter when the tour buses leave. Spring and autumn are the most pleasant seasons in Tuscany. The Volterra AD 1398 medieval festival in August brings costumed events to the streets, and the truffle and food festival in October attracts gourmets.

Winters are cold and windy on the hilltop. Allow about half an hour for the cathedral and baptistery, and visit an alabaster workshop and the Roman theatre afterwards. The Guarnacci Etruscan Museum, about ten minutes' walk, holds the elongated bronze figure known as the Shadow of the Evening.