ARISTOTLE RENAMED IT: some local historians take it for granted that the mythical city of Enorea described by Aristotle is none other than Volterra.
Aristotle renamed it. Although the various hypotheses regarding its foundation divide local historians, some take it for granted that the mythical city of Enorea described by Aristotle is none other than our Volterra, which, over its millennia of history (and legend), has changed its name countless times, without ever managing to confuse historians.
However, there is still a dispute over the original toponym of the city. Giovannelli opens the dispute by stating that it was originally called Vuldirra, from an untranslatable Hebrew word. But in his urban commentaries, the pious and learned Raffaello Maffei thus responds: “contra piratorum violentiam indigenae Volaterras erexerunt, qui novo Tirrenorum adventu, politiorique vitae genere invitati, cum iis in unum veluti cirpus coaluere, atque in Civitatem suam ultro ad miserunt; ut iure Vola Tirrenorum dici potuerit, idest Urbs; prisca enim Tuscorum lingua Volam dixere Urbem, non qua ab ispis condita, sed quia reformata, et in meliorem statum redacta videretur”.
In short, in the Lydian language Vola meant City; it easily follows that the city of the Tyrrhenians could not have been called anything other than Vola Tirrenorum, and from here to the Latin Volaterrae Volaterrarum it is a very short step indeed.
Not to be outdone, the Augustinian friar even quotes Annio, according to whom: “Volterra was named after Ater, which in the Scythian language means a large square in front of the house. This city being like an atrium and a large square, in which people were born, it is probable that the Volterrani are called the Tuscan Atrians.”.
And to make matters worse, Varro also claimed that Volterra was the first to invent atriums or squares in front of houses. And recalling the other names of Ottonia (in honor of Emperor Otto I of Saxony, who was in Volterra on June 2, 967), Antona or Antonia, and even Voltona, we conclude the toponymic adventures of Volterra with the verses of Fazio degli Uberti:
After this we found Volterra
On a great mountain, which is strong and ancient,
As in any other land in Tuscany.
She was called Antonia, as much as people say,
Then came Buovo, who for Drusiana
Beyond the sea, much effort went on.
Reading the tercets of the Pisan Ghibelline exile, it is necessary to add that popular imagination has always believed that Buovo or Bovo d’Antona, celebrated hero of the Royals of France, he was a native of Volterra with all due respect to the indomitable knight Beuve d’Hanstone, sung in the very famous poem from beyond the Alps and accredited in Italy by Andrea da Barberino.
Contents transcribed from the book “Volterra Magica e Misteriosa” by Franco Porretti, published by Pacini Editore in 2001. We thank Brunello Porretti for his kind permission.
