Volterra, known to the ancient Etruscans as Velathri, to the Romans as Volaterrae, is a town and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy.

The town was a Neolithic settlement and an important Etruscan center (Velathri or Felathri) with an original civilization; it became a municipium in the Roman Age. The city was a bishop's residence in the 5th century, and its episcopal power was affirmed during the 12th century. With the decline of the episcopate, Volterra became a place of interest of the Florentines, whose forces conquered Volterra. Florentine rule was not always popular, and opposition occasionally broke into rebellion. These rebellions were put down by Florence.

The poet Jacopo da Leona was a judge at Volterra in the 13th century.

When the Florentine Republic fell in 1530, Volterra came under the control of the Medici family and later followed the history of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

Outside the city, in direction of Lajatico, is the Medici Villa di Spedaletto. Also in the neighborhood, in the Valle Bona area, are excavations of Etruscan tombs.

Richard "Rick" Steves (born May 10, 1955, Edmonds, Washington) is an American author and television personality focusing on European travel. He is the host of the American Public Television series Rick Steves' Europe, has a public radio travel show, Travel with Rick Steves, and has authored various location-specific travel guides.

Steves started his career by teaching travel classes at his alma mater, University of Washington, and working as a tour guide in the summer. At the time, he also worked as a piano teacher (his father had owned a piano store). In 1979, based on his travel classes, he wrote the first edition of Europe Through the Back Door (ETBD), a general guide on how to travel in Europe. Steves self-published the first edition of his travel skills book ETBD in 1980. Unlike most guidebook entrepreneurs, he opened a storefront business, which at first was both travel center and piano teaching studio. He held travel classes and slide shows, did travel consulting, organized a few group tours per year, and updated his books. He did not provide ticket booking or other standard travel agency services. He incorporated his business as "Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door." The store was in Steves' hometown of Edmonds, Washington (a city north of Seattle). The company's headquarters are still in Edmonds.

Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer. He has received four Academy Award nominations, five BAFTA nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, and two Grammy nominations. Desplat won his first Golden Globe for The Painted Veil in 2006, his first British Academy Film Award in 2011 and his first Grammy Award in 2012 for The King's Speech. Among various projects, Desplat has worked on a variety of Hollywood films including independent and commercial successes like The Queen, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, New Moon, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2.

Desplat was born in Paris to a French father and a Greek mother who met at the University of California, Berkeley. After their marriage, they moved back to France, where Alexandre was born. Alexandre is the younger brother of Vic Desplat. At the age of five, he began playing piano. He also became proficient on trumpet and flute. He studied with Claude Ballif, Iannis Xenakis in France and Jack Hayes in the U.S. Desplat's musical interests were wide, and he was also influenced by South American and African artists and teachers, among whom were Carlinhos Brown and Ray Lema. Desplat swiftly became skilled, both as a performer and a composer.