Stone upon stone: an Italian sojourn: Stunning in bronze and stone

We approached Volterra by a serpentine route that took us past hills and ancient castellos. Today, it is a renowned UNESCO site with its pink terracotta tiled roofs, domes, gates and towers all within fortified walls that grew from its Etruscan roots.

It is a city of art. And a city of alabaster. And that heritage dates right back to its Etruscan beginnings. Volterra was one of the twelve great Etruscan settlements that evolved on hilltops in this region of Italy. It had a huge population for its time. At its peak, between about the 5th century BC and onwards its population topped 20,000: more than today.

Minerals from the surrounding hills made the Etruscans wealthy; as did salt mines. With their fat purses they protected themselves with strong substantial walls, some 7 kilometres all told.

But only for a time. Soon the Romans came, and then the powerful Medicis of Florence. They rebuilt the walls and strengthened the city against attacks from Sienna, but soon even Sienna fell and Volterra's fortified walls and its hilltop location have kept the city looking much as it did in the Middle Ages and earning its UNESCO privilege.

It has a splendid Baptistry in white and green striped marble. With a spectacular font occupying most of it, and a statue of John the Baptist rising above.

But its fascination for me is not the medieval, it is its rich Etruscan heritage. And thanks to one man Volterra's Etruscan history has been preserved brilliantly. Abbot Mario Guarnacci was born in 1701, the second of eight children in his family. He grew up heavily involved in literature studies and canon law and became a powerful dignitary in the church. As his wealth grew, so, too, did his passion and his collection of all things Etruscan. He became obsessed with his belief that the Etruscan civilisation was one of the most splendid in history, and his collection came to illustrate that. He spent all his money on it, then left his entire Etruscan collection to the city of Volterra on his death.

An amazing gift. Today it fills many floors of a dedicated museum. We spent hours there among the very beautiful pieces of Etruscan civilisation. Most of what is known about the Etruscans comes from their tomb finds. Simpler tombs have special possessions sparsely arrayed at the burial. A family burial shows several decorated sarcophagi belonging to different family members, all at an elevated level in one vault: with their urns and their precious keepsakes there to guard them and carry them safely into the afterlife.

Some burials are of such status that they wore gilded headpieces, like tiaras: exquisitely formed. How skilled were their craftsmen. The gold work is as thin as paper. No wonder Guarnacci became besotted with them. The top of the carved alabaster funerary urn often bore the likeness of the individual, reclining as at a banquet: often holding a goblet as if ready to drink. The work on the urn was exquisite: detailed raised sculpture of the most beautiful kind. Stunning in stone.

But, again, it was a simple elongated little ex voto statue made of bronze that became the stunning feature of the museum for me. A statue known as Ombra della Sera, or Evening Shadow, because it looks as if the inspiration for the piece came from an extended shadow of the person: very likely the only way, before mirrors, that people might really have had an image of themselves: through shadows or reflections. Still in perfect perspective.

Amazing to think this is well over 2000 years old. It might have been formed yesterday it is in such excellent condition. Yet, one tale tells that the French archeologist who recovered this statuette did so the night he sought lodging with a local in the midst of terrible storm. He did not have to go digging. The poker being used by the landlord to tend the fire was this elongated statuette that he had uncovered in his field. Astonishing find.