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Volterra's Alabaster
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Alabaster
is a form of crystallized chalk that has a delicate, milky texture and lends itself to the sculpture of fine, flowing lines and close ornamental detail. In even quite large blocks, it is translucent. The Etruscans and Romans extensively mined Volterra's alabaster for sculpting. Up until the 1960s, there were large alabaster factories throughout the town centre, but - not least because of the quantity of dust they threw up - large-scale production was moved to outlying areas. These days, only about a dozen artisans are permitted to maintain workshops in the centre of town, and Volterra's famous art school is the only one in Europe to train students to work alabaster.
You'll spot plenty of alabaster shops dotted around the centre - most are outlets for factories that produce machined pieces from the tasteful to the tacky.
Alab'Arte
, down the alley alongside the Museo Guarnacci at Via Orti S. Agostino 28 (tel 0588.87.968), is one of the few to stick to hand-production, turning out sculpted pieces for as little as a few thousand lire. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Italy,
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