San Michele Arcangelo (St Michele Archangel) is a 13th-century Romanesque-style

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church located on Via Guarnacci #6 in

Volterra Volterra (; Latin: ''Volaterrae'') is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods. History ...

, province of Pisa, region of

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

, Italy. The church is across the street from the Medieval Palazzo Maffei-Guarnacci (Casa Torre Toscano).

History

While documentation dates a church on the site to the 10th century, the Romanesque facade of the church, partially embellished with marble and

pietra dura ''Pietra dura'' (), ''pietre dure'' () or intarsia lapidary ( see below), called ''parchin kari'' or ''parchinkari'' () in the Indian subcontinent, is a term for the inlay technique of using cut and fitted, highly polished colored stones to c ...

striations, dates to around 1285. In the arches are reliefs with the heraldic symbols of the Farnese family. The statue of the Madonna over the portal is a copy of a 14th-century original now in the Museum of Sacred Art. Those expecting the interior to continue in the exterior style will be disappointed. The interior was completely modified in the 1820s by the order of the Scolopi, which had owned the church since 1711. The presbytery still contains a marble tabernacle by a 15th-century Florentine Balsimelli di Settignano. It includes a ''Madonna and child'' terracotta by Giovanni della Robbia and a wood panel of ''The Guardian Angel'' by Nicolò Circignani. Along the nave are altars with paintings, including a canvas depicting the ''Holy Family'' by

Carlo Maratta Carlo Maratta or Maratti (18 May 162515 December 1713) was an Italian Baroque painter and Drawing, draughtsman, active principallly in Rome where he was the leading painter in the second half of the 17th century. He was a fresco and canvas painte ...

and a ''Madonna of the Redemption'', which is a 15th-century fresco transferred to canvas attributed to Cenni di Francesco (Cenni di Francesco di ser Cenni). There is also a painting of ''San Giuseppe Calasanzio'' by Giuseppe Zocchi. In the oratory of Saint Christopher, there is a fresco of the ''Madonna and child'', attributed to Vincenzo Tamagni.

Sources

Civic Tourist Site
*Italian Wikipedia entry {{DEFAULTSORT:Michele Arcangelo Volterra Roman Catholic churches in Volterra Romanesque architecture in Tuscany 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy