CASTELLINA MARITTIMA

Castellina Marittima is located in a typical tuscan scenario: hills with olive trees, grapes and wheat, rows of cypress trees and Mediterranean vegetation, natural habitat of wild boars and other wild animals.

Among the monuments there is the eighteenth-century Church of St. John the Baptist, in which are still visible two alabaster columns that were part of the ancient altar.

The extraction of alabaster has marked the history of Castellina, from which the Ecomuseum route, that also includes the municipalities of Santa Luce and Volterra, telling the importance of alabaster in this part of Tuscany.

The district offers a network of greenways ideal for walking and cycling lovers; in an old quarry outside the village there is a field for training and practice of archery.

Among the events, in August we report MW Festival, which hosts national and international bands, and the Sagra della Cucina Povera, with specialties that reproduce traditional recipes.

Ecomuseum of alabaster

The Ecomuseum of alabaster is part of an eco-museum dedicated to the history of the extraction and processing of alabaster in the territory of Castellina Marittima, Santa Luce and Volterra.

Its function is to rediscover, revival and promote the ancient activities and civilizations; the activities of excavation, processing and marketing of alabaster beginning of the Etruscans, through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance until today.

The Ecomuseum study, preserve, evaluate and promote the collective memory of the “alabaster area” operating with the population in the process of knowledge and use of the territory, as guardian of his memory, seems like a bridge between past and present.

The system is organized through specialized itineraries related to the excavation, processing and marketing, as well as a Central Point Museum in Castellina Marittima (Palazzo dell’Opera Pia in the past), set up to represent the visit to the quarry, with historical papers and some instruments related to the work of alabaster.