Volterra Italy

This is how you drive to our hotel. Cant keep the car there just drop off luggage. I was terrified we’d get a ticket so I parked the car and walked up to the hotel. They said they had added my car to the list so I won’t get a ticket. We’ll see, it’s Italy after all. Where I nearly hit the person in the wheelchair is where Rick Steves talks about the farmers hanging out. Great location, right in the middle of everything.

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Wow. Just wow. I always wanted to stay in a walled hilltop village in Tuscany (bucket list) and after some research we decided on Volterra. Wow. The place is the perfect size as there’s enough going on at night, plenty of restaurants, and when the tourists leave the locals come out in mass.

We stay at the Volterra In which is great. Rooms are adequate (typically small) and the location is ideal. The included breakfast is nice.

The village is amazingly well preserved which dates back to 700 BC. Yes, it’s old. Most of the place was probably built 400-600AD if I had to guess, but many areas are certaily older.

There was a UCI Mountain Bike event while we were here, can’t avoid them in Italy if you try, but it added to the excitement watching them race around a track laid out through the twists and turns of the cobblestone and limestone streets.

As expected, Volterra gets a lot of day visitors bused in from Siena or Florence but before and after the place is completely normal. Normal for a 2000 year old Etruscan village with locals hitting the markets in the morning and after 5:30 they’re out and about walking arm in arm and drinking white wine or Aperol Spritz in and around their favorite hangouts.

If you’re a photog like my wife then this place is definitely on the bucket list. Every alleyway, street, and view is better than the next. If you like old doors, stone, and windows then you’re in heaven. The roman theater is shocking.

We used this as base camp and visited San Gimignano which is less than 30 minutes away, another stunning beautiful village with lots of towers. Drove all around Chianti, I mean ALL around Chianti, and stopped off at Castello di Verranzano for a tour and tasting. Also spent a day driving to the Mediterranean coast and stopped in Populonia for lunch next to the castle and views of the sea. Beautiful.

Food in Volterra is great. While we don’t eat in very fancy restaurants we do like good food and everything is great here. Empathy Bistrot is awesome as the floor in the bar is glass and the roman, medieval, and the original part of the Etruscan wall are under your feet. We just had cocktails but people say the food is super.

La Vecchia Lirawas great and very reasonably priced. Ate there twice. Osteria La Pace was terrific and more of local joint because of the location. The pasta dish was off the hook. By far and away the best wine place was La Cantina di Beppe. It has a couple of names… The owner there is a huge wine geek and loves talking wine. Want a local wine experience, La Vena di Vino is the place. Rustic doesn’t begin to describe this place.

As always, Rick does a really nice job and we use him as a reference quite a bit so I leave these here. His book on Tuscany is the best, imho. Doesn’t miss a thing if you like his style of travel.

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I had to click and it really is Volterra In. The last ‘n’ must have fallen out sometime in 250 AD.

We spent a week in Volterra for our 25th wedding anniversary last May and thought it was heaven on earth.

Great post. The Etruscan statues inspired Modigliani, very cool and unique.

We rented a VRBO apartment in Volterra. Just outside the old city walls, with a view that was worth the price of admission alone.

The streets are unreal, the views over the countryside stunning, the Etruscan and Roman ruins awe inspiring-- we meant to do a lot of day trips (and we did) but we had a much less busy schedule than we expected to just because we enjoyed the town so much, and even did some long walks in the countryside from Volterra to explore Etruscan tombs, see the old Etruscan walls, get a glimpse of what appears to be a 20K seat Roman Amphitheater they recently uncovered, etc.

There is a morning tour done by a charming American expat who lives in Volterra every day, leaving from near the old Etruscan gate, that is a must do. Can’t remember her name but Rick Steves encourages you to do her tour in his book.

Some views from our apartment and a street scene:

I wanted to pick this bit out, as it’s such good insight. Italy does really reward closer inspection. The glossy brochures saying ‘see Italy in 10 days’ have a lot to answer for. Italy doesn’t show it’s best charms for those rushing from one famous site to the next. It does reward finding somewhere you like and exploring it. Day trips are a great way of finding balance, so if staying in a place for 5-7 days, have a number of day trip options available. The idea being that the day trips can be as frequent / infrequent as you feel when there. You have the basic prep and if something takes your fancy that day, then off you go. If you’d rather stay closer to the hotel/apartment (e.g. for a good countryside walk) or aren’t feeling great, then it’s easy to find things to explore/enjoy locally.

We’re always talking of keeping it simple and having a whole week in each ‘base’ but invariably we compromise and have ~ 3 locations in 2 weeks, albeit generally those locations are very close to each other e.g. Bubbio + Langhe + Torino or Bologna + Molveno + Trento