Category: Things to Discover

Walking through the streets of the historic center of Volterra can reveal, to the most curious eyes, some nice surprises! Have you ever discovered the art hidden behind door knockers?

Knocker, clapper, mallet or knocker; since man felt the need to protect himself and his possessions inside a house, not only the need to close was born, but also the opposite need, that of to notice anyone who wanted to signal his presence outside the home and thus allow him to enter. This led to the invention of a special instrument, perfected over time and called a knocker or knocker.

Continue reading “I battenti dei portoni, tra motivi floreali ed esseri mostruosi” →

There are eleven doors which, still today, they remain standing inserted in the perimeter of the medieval walls o outside of it. Once upon a time there were even more doors and, precisely, there were four more; Today we can no longer admire these, but we will talk about them at the end of the article.

If I were a filmmaker with a video camera, I'd make a documentary about these doors and call it: «"Symphony of the Volterran Gates"». Now they are wide open and they seem to have forgotten their grim appearance of when, once upon a time, they were slammed in the enemies' faces who wanted to take over the city. They have a particular charm and are different from each other both in terms of their structure and the surrounding buildings.

Continue reading “11 Porte di Volterra da oltrepassare” →