Discover Porta all'Arco

The Porta all'Arco, also called the Porta dell'Arco, is a city gate of Volterra dating to roughly the period between the 4th and 3rd centuries BC.

It is the principal access to the city from the south, and therefore the opposite of Volterra's other Etruscan gate, the Porta Diana, to the north. It was one of at least three main gates of the great wall circuit from which the road routes departed: from this one you went out towards the Val di Cecina, the salt-pan area and the Colline Metallifere.

The gate is built of great blocks laid dry, one on another, and part of the pietra panchina circuit built originally by the Etruscans and later modified in the Middle Ages, when the city rose as a free commune. Compared with similar constructions in other cities it suffered less from Roman reworking after Volterra submitted to Rome, and it still presents the grandiose imposingness typical of Etruscan city gates.

Its most famous features are the three carved heads on the outer front, in reddish selagite, and its most remarkable moment came on 30 June 1944, when the townspeople walled it up overnight with their own paving stones to stop the German command demolishing it.

An Etruscan gate whose construction, colour and plan are all legible from the street.

Dry-laid blocks

The gate is built of great blocks superimposed dry — no mortar — as part of the city's pietra panchina circuit. Dry-laid masonry on this scale depends entirely on the accuracy of the cutting and the weight of the stone, and it is the reason the gate is still standing after more than two thousand years of traffic.

Three rocks, and a two-century error

The lively colouring is due to the use of three different types of rock, each where it does most good. The piers are yellowish arenaceous limestone, the local pietra panchina — the city's own building stone. The arch is a grey reef limestone, a harder rock for the element under compression. And the three heads are reddish selagite.

That last identification matters, because the sources record that contrary to what has been repeated since the 18th century the heads are not of sandstone but of selagite, a rare volcanic rock from Montecatini Val di Cecina. The most-described feature of the gate was misattributed for two hundred years.

The protomes and the structure

On the outer front the three main elements of the arch — the keystone and the two springing points — are underlined by three sculpted heads. This is the architectural point: the heads are not decoration added to a surface but markers of where the arch does its work. Reading them tells you how the arch stands up.

Their subject is unresolved. Three hypotheses are on the table: Jupiter and the city's two protectors, Castor and Pollux; Jupiter with Uni and Minerva; or an echo of the eastern custom of displaying the severed heads of enemy commanders on city walls as a warning. The heads are generally interpreted as protective deities, but the third reading has never been excluded.

A chamber, not an opening

The gate has two fornices: the outer one, with the protomes, originally defended by a portcullis allowing rapid defensive closure, and an inner one barred by two leaves. Because of that pairing its plan can be defined as a chamber — a defended box between two closures rather than a single hole in a wall.

What it owes to being left alone

The gate suffered less from Roman reworking than similar constructions in other cities after Volterra's submission, and that neglect is what preserved it: it still presents today the grandiose imposingness typical of Etruscan city gates. The caution is Banti's — the two Etruscan gates here are Etruscan only in their lower part.

Built once, reworked once, nearly destroyed once, and saved by hand in a single night.

Built with the Etruscan circuit, 4th–3rd century BC

The gate belongs to the pietra panchina wall circuit originally built by the Etruscans, of great dry-laid blocks. Its position was determined by the roads: it was the principal southern access and the point from which routes ran to the Val di Cecina, the salt-pan area and the Colline Metallifere — salt and metal, the two things that made Volterra rich.

Reworked, probably in the 3rd century BC

Both the arch and the protomes are later reworkings, probably of the 3rd century BC. That is why the fabric reads in three materials: the piers are the earlier work in local stone, the grey limestone arch and the selagite heads came with the rebuild. Luisa Banti put it more bluntly still — the gates are Etruscan only in their lower part.

Spared by Rome

After Volterra submitted, this gate suffered less from Roman reworking than comparable gates elsewhere. The usual fate of an Etruscan gate was to be rebuilt in the Roman manner; not being worth the trouble is what left this one looking Etruscan.

Modified in the Middle Ages

The circuit it belongs to was modified when the city rose as a free commune, so the walls around the gate are not all of one date even where the gate itself is.

Nearly demolished, and then saved: 30 June 1944

The most consequential twenty-four hours in the building's history, and no stone was laid by a mason.

As the front passed Volterra, the German command in the city decided to blow up the gate to make access difficult for the advancing American troops. It then agreed not to destroy the structure if the gate were obstructed within 24 hours. The population of Volterra turned out en masse and sealed the monument using the paving stones of the surrounding streets — prising up their own road surface to wall up their own gate, against a deadline, to deny it to an army without losing it.

It worked. A bas-relief placed in 1984 near the gate commemorates the feat.

Copied, in the 19th century

A footnote with a long reach: Giuseppe Maffei, architect and painter of Graglia, built a reproduction of this gate as the entrance to the castle of Rosazza — so a copy of Volterra's Etruscan gate stands in Piedmont.

What happened here in 1944?

The gate was saved by the townspeople. On 30 June 1944, as the front passed, the German command decided to blow it up to hinder the advancing American troops — but agreed not to destroy it if it were obstructed within 24 hours. The population turned out en masse and sealed the gate using the paving stones of the surrounding streets. A bas-relief placed nearby in 1984 commemorates it.

How old is it?

It dates to roughly the period between the 4th and the 3rd centuries BC. Note that the arch and the three carved heads are later reworkings, probably of the 3rd century BC, and that Luisa Banti held Volterra's two Etruscan gates to be Etruscan only in their lower part. The article on the town gives "3rd–2nd centuries BC"; this page follows the article on the gate.

Who are the three heads?

Nobody is certain, and the three candidate readings change the gate's meaning completely: Jupiter with the city's protectors Castor and Pollux; Jupiter with Uni and Minerva; or an echo of the eastern custom of displaying the severed heads of enemy commanders on city walls as a warning. They are generally interpreted as protective deities. They mark the keystone and the two springing points of the arch.

What are the heads made of?

Selagite — a rare volcanic rock from Montecatini Val di Cecina — and this corrects a long-standing error: contrary to what has been repeated since the 18th century they are not sandstone. The piers are yellowish pietra panchina and the arch a grey reef limestone, which is why the gate has three colours.

Why does it have two archways?

Because it was built as a defended chamber, not an opening. The outer fornix — the one with the heads — was originally defended by a portcullis for rapid closure, and the inner one was barred by two leaves. Anyone through the first was in a box.

Why does it look more Etruscan than other gates?

Because Rome largely left it alone. After Volterra submitted, this gate suffered less from Roman reworking than similar constructions in other cities, and it therefore still presents the grandiose imposingness typical of Etruscan city gates.

Is there a ticket, and can I go through it?

No ticket, and yes — it is a public street, free at any hour. But it is a live road through a narrow arch with poor sightlines, so look from the pavement rather than standing in the opening.

Is there really a copy of it somewhere else?

Yes. In the 19th century Giuseppe Maffei, architect and painter of Graglia, built a reproduction of this gate as the entrance to the castle of Rosazza.