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The Santa Maria Assunta Cathedral is the main place for the Catholic faith in Volterra, in the diocese of Pisa. In November 1957 pope Pio XII granted to it the honorific title of minor basilica to emphasise its status.
It is uncertain which was the first cathedral in the city; in any case a church dedicated to Saint Mary has existed since the IX century. It was rebuilt after the violent earthquake in 1117 and enlarged in the second half of the thirteenth century.
In 2016, in view of the celebrations for the 900th anniversary of the consecration of the cathedral, the diocese of Volterra began renovations which included the modernisation of the lighting system.
The lighting project was assigned to the architect and lighting designer Massimo Larussi, the Targetti lighting fixtures were run by control systems operated by Elettroservice from Padua using components from Helvar.
Volterra is the city of alabaster and the Santa Maria Assunta cathedral, consecrated in 1120, is one of its treasures of great historical and artistic value, a symbol of medieval Volterra and one of the greatest examples of Pisan Romanesque. Today’s cathedral is the result of a stratification of elements and styles from different eras that make it a work of inestimable artistic value. The space, while retaining the Latin cross basilica shape with three naves in its structure and layout, has a late Renaissance appearance. The coffered ceiling dates back to the end of the sixteenth century while the stucco cladding of the columns, the floor and the walls painted in grey and white bands are attributable to the nineteenth century restoration.
Works of art inside the cathedral
1 La Madonna dei Chierici attributed to Francesco del Valdambrino
2. The marble ciborium of Mino da Fiesole dated 1471
2.1 In the apse, a wooden choir in gothic shapes with a bishop’s chair from the end of the 14th century
3. Il gruppo ligneo policromo della Deposizione, from the 13th century.
4. The pulpit reassembled at the end of the 16th century with sculptures from the 13th century
5 6. In the chapel of the Addolorata there are two tabernacles, a Nativity and an Adoration of the Magi of the 15th century in painted terracotta, works attributed to the Della Robbia workshop. At the bottom of the left side niche , “The arrival of the Magi”, fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli from 1479
7. At the second altar on the left aisle, the Annunciation by Mariotto Albertinelli (1497).
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