Diocesan Museum in Volterra

The Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art (Museo Diocesano d'Arte Sacra) is a museum of ecclesiastical art located inside the Church of Sant'Agostino in Volterra, a hilltop town in the province of Pisa, Tuscany, Italy. Founded in 1932 and re-established in its present location in 2017, the museum preserves and displays works from the Cathedral of Volterra and other churches throughout the diocese, including paintings, sculptures, reliquaries, and liturgical objects spanning from the medieval period to the modern era. Its significance lies in its innovative museological conception: rather than a conventionally secularized gallery, it occupies a deliberately unconsecrated church, allowing sacred artworks to remain in a setting that preserves their original spiritual and functional context.

The museum was first conceived in the early twentieth century by Corrado Ricci and opened on 20 December 1932, thanks to the efforts of Canon Maurizio Cavallini, who assembled the collection and arranged it in rooms of the Palazzo Vescovile on Via Roma. This original location was severely damaged by bombing in 1944 during the Second World War, and the museum remained closed for several years. The Soprintendenza oversaw its restoration and new installation, enabling a reopening on 4 June 1956. The museum closed again in the 1980s for structural work and to install security and fire protection systems, reopening on 19 December 1992. In 2017, following substantial restoration, the collection was transferred to the Church of Sant'Agostino, made possible by the testamentary bequest of Franca Paoletti Adamo. The solemn inauguration took place on 30 June 2017.

The collection comprises works from the Cathedral Basilica of Volterra, other city churches, and additional churches across the diocesan territory. It encompasses paintings, sculptures, reliquaries, liturgical furnishings, sacred vestments, illuminated manuscripts, and alabaster objects. The museum's guiding philosophy emphasizes maintaining the original liturgical context of the objects: the church was deliberately not deconsecrated, so that the artworks remain in a space consonant with their intended function. The exhibition extends through the main nave and to the left of the altar, with display cases and paintings integrated among the church's original furnishings. Multimedia stations and panels explain the history of the works and the church's original fittings.

Among the most significant paintings is the Villamagna Altarpiece (1521) by Rosso Fiorentino, depicting the Madonna enthroned with Saints John the Baptist and Bartholomew, commissioned for the parish church at Villamagna. The Annunciation by Benvenuto di Giovanni, dated 1466, is displayed with its predella. Other notable paintings include Domenico di Michelino's Madonna and Saints (15th century), Giovanni Paolo Rossetti's Madonna and Child with Saints (1541), Daniele Ricciarelli's Madonna and Child with Saints Peter and Paul (1545), and Baldassarre Franceschini's Assumption of the Virgin (1631). The reliquaries include a 12th-century bust of Saint Victor, a reliquary donated by Pope Callixtus II in 1120 to the Bishop of Volterra; a reliquary bust of Saint Ottaviano in silver and gilded copper attributed to Antonio del Pollaiolo (1470); and a 15th-century silver processional cross also attributed to Pollaiolo. Other significant objects include a 13th-century painted wooden crucifix from Castelfiorentino, a 16th-century alabaster holy water font from Sant'Andrea, a glazed terracotta bust of Saint Linus by Giovanni della Robbia (1521) or Benedetto Buglioni (15th-16th century), a 16th-century alabaster ciborium, and two illuminated antiphonaries from 1299 by an Augustinian monk. The sacristy preserves original 17th-century furniture and displays of precious metalwork.

The museum is housed in the Church of Sant'Agostino, located on Piazza XX di Settembre in Volterra's historic center, just northwest of the Biblioteca Guarnacci and the Museo Etrusco Guarnacci. The church and its adjacent Augustinian monastery were founded in the 13th century when the order arrived with a putative relic from the crown of thorns. The convent was built before 1349, along with the Santi Giacomo e Giovanni hospital, commissioned by Ottaviano Strenna with designs by Filippo Belforti. The church originally had a single nave; additional aisles were added by 1728, and further refurbishment occurred in 1885. The Augustinians were suppressed in 1785 by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany, though some monks remained until 1807. The 2017 restoration preserved the church's original furnishings while adapting the space for museum display, including a central platform leading toward the altar and red panels for paintings between the side altars. A 10th-century stone architrave from San Lorenzo in Montalbano (Siena) is mounted above the entrance, with ancient bells displayed beneath it symbolizing the diocese's many bell towers.

The Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art is located at Piazza XX Settembre in Volterra. From 10 March to 2 November, it is open daily from 10:00 to 18:30. From 3 November to 9 March, hours are 10:00 to 16:00 on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday; 10:00 to 18:30 on Saturday and Sunday; closed on Tuesday. Admission is included in the Volterra Card, a cumulative ticket valid for 72 hours that covers all museums in the Volterra Museums circuit, including the Civic Art Gallery, Guarnacci Etruscan Museum, Alabaster Ecomuseum, Palace of the Priors, Roman Theatre, and Etruscan Acropolis. The Volterra Card costs 23 euros full price, with concessions at 18 euros for young people aged 6-25, over 65s, university students, and Touring Club or FAI members; 32 euros for family groups; 12 euros for groups of 10 or more; and 6 euros for school groups. Free admission applies to children under 6, residents of Volterra, local students, people with disabilities and their companions, tour guides, journalists, teachers accompanying school groups, and ICOM members.