City
Velinis
Volterra
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Velinis is usually read as a garbled form of the city's ancient name, Velathri in Etruscan, which points to Volterra in Tuscany, a member of the league of twelve Etruscan cities. The Greek geographer Strabo describes it high on a steep rock reached by a single road and ringed by strong walls, stretches of which still stand. From 82 to 80 BC its defenders held out against the troops of Sulla. On the map, though, the name sits by the coast, and its distances to the neighbouring stations do not fit. Some scholars therefore sought the station near the shore, but Volterra remains the preferred identification.