Porta all'Arco historical timeline

Last updated on October 14, 2026

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roughly the 4th to 3rd century BC — the Porta all'Arco is built as part of the city's pietra panchina wall circuit, originally constructed by the Etruscans. It becomes the principal access from the south, one of at least three main gates, carrying the roads to the Val di Cecina, the salt-pans and the Colline Metallifere.
probably the 3rd century BC — the arch and the three carved heads are reworked. Both belong to this later campaign rather than to the gate's first construction, and Luisa Banti held that Volterra's two Etruscan gates are Etruscan only in their lower part.
after the submission of Volterra to Rome — the gate suffers less from Roman reworking than similar constructions in other cities, which is why it retains the grandeur characteristic of Etruscan gates.
the Middle Ages — the wall circuit is modified when the city rises as a free commune.
from the 18th century onward — it is repeatedly asserted that the three heads are of sandstone. They are not: they are of selagite, a rare volcanic rock from Montecatini Val di Cecina. A two-hundred-year-old error about the material of the gate's most famous feature.
the 19th century — Giuseppe Maffei, architect and painter of Graglia, builds a reproduction of the gate as the entrance to the castle of Rosazza.
1944 — on 30 June, as the front passes Volterra, the German command decides to blow the gate up to hinder the advancing American troops, but agrees not to destroy it if it is obstructed within 24 hours. The population of Volterra turns out en masse and seals the monument using the paving stones of the surrounding streets.
1984 — a bas-relief is placed near the gate to commemorate that feat.

Verified against Wikipedia, October 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — 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., The porta all'Arco is the principal access to Volterra from the south, opposite the city's other Etruscan gate, the Porta Diana, to the north, and 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 area of the salt-pans and the Colline Metallifere., On the outer front of the porta all'Arco the three main elements of the arch, the keystone and the two springing points, are underlined by three sculpted heads or protomes, and different hypotheses have been advanced on their identification: Jupiter and the city's two protectors Castor and Pollux; or Jupiter with Uni and Minerva as protective deities; or a reference to the oriental custom of displaying on city walls the severed heads of enemy commanders as a warning to any hostile presence; and both the arch and the protomes are to be referred to later reworkings, probably placeable in the 3rd century BC., The porta all'Arco forms part of Volterra's pietra panchina wall circuit, originally built by the Etruscans and later modified in the Middle Ages when the city rose as a free commune, and compared with similar constructions in other cities it suffered to a lesser degree from Roman reworkings after the city's submission to Rome, so that it still presents today the grandiose imposingness typical of Etruscan city gates; according to Luisa Banti the two Etruscan gates of Volterra, the porta all'Arco and the Porta Diana, are Etruscan only in their lower part., The three heads of the porta all'Arco are ancient and reused in the fabric and are generally interpreted as protective deities, and contrary to what has been repeated since the 18th century they are not of sandstone but of selagite, a rare volcanic rock from Montecatini Val di Cecina., A reproduction of the porta all'Arco was made in the 19th century as the access to the castle of Rosazza by Giuseppe Maffei, architect and painter of Graglia., During the passage of the front from Volterra in the Second World War, precisely on 30 June 1944, the German command in the city decided to blow up the porta all'Arco to make access difficult for the enemy American troops, but agreed not to destroy the structure if it were obstructed within 24 hours; the population of Volterra turned out en masse and managed to seal the monument using the paving stones of the surrounding streets, and a bas-relief placed in 1984 near the gate commemorates this feat. (October 2026).

Porta all'Arco historical timeline

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