This head of a youth (kouros in Greek) in pietra serena sandstone, which probably belonged to a statue about 60 cm tall, was found in 1965 by Alvaro Vanni, a local inhabitant of Castellina while he was ploughing a field near Casa al Vento. The head is a solid mass with a wide and smooth face. The eyebrows are a continuation of the nose lines, framing two almond-shaped eyes profiled by the continuous border of the eyelids, while a light incision seems to outline the iris; the mouth has small lips. The long hair, defined with undulating stripes, is held back by a double band which is visible only frontally for at the back it disappears under the hair falling against the neck. Curls frame the face and behind two larger locks of hair at cheek level there are two generously proportioned ears defined by a thick curve. The formal features of the kouros of Castellina (that refer to the tradition of the famous “Lorenzini head” of Volterra) can be interestingly related (the hairstyle in particular) to the bronze votive figures of the northern Etruscan area, also including the Castellina bronze. The special shaping of the ears of the Castellina head is typical of the Fiesole area. The Castellina head seems to confirm also in its shape its provenance from an area between Fiesole and Volterra, and can be dated between the end of the 6th century and the first decades of the 5th century B.C.
