A postcard from Volterra
The road to Volterra is neither for weak stomachs (a good dose of curvy roads) nor for the faint of heart (the scenery takes the breath away, especially in the fall and spring).
Ciao, this is Postcards from Tuscany, a section of the main newsletter Letters from Tuscany. Postcards is weekly, free and everyone can leave a comment.
If you want to catch up on previous ones, you can find them here. Happy reading!
If you have ever participated in one of our cooking classes, you know how much Giulia and I love Volterra, and we probably suggested you visit it after the class instead of San Gimignano.
Don't get me wrong, San Gimignano is beautiful, but as often happens mass tourism has completely transformed it. With the exception of a couple of places, you only find the classic tourist stuff: wooden cutting boards, plastic magnets, wild boar puppets, packages of pasta, cookies, etc... San Gimignano really benefits from a low-season visit.
Volterra, on the other hand, continues to maintain its authenticity over the centuries. It has been able to make its isolation a strong point: although it continues to attract tourists from all over the world, it remains a town on a human scale, where the stores are still frequented by the locals: on Sundays, people buy pastries to take to their relatives for lunch. Here the little cafés and clubs are still the meeting point for young and old people.
The road to Volterra is neither for weak stomachs (a good dose of curvy roads) nor for the faint of heart (the scenery takes the breath away, especially in the fall and spring).
Leave your car at La Dogana Parking Lot, and as soon as you exit onto Piazza dei Martiri della Libertà, you can admire the beauty of the landscape all around. If you are lucky enough to find a sunny day, you will be able to spot the silvery strip of the sea of the Tuscan coast in the distance.
Leaving the square, all you can do is get lost up and down the old streets; every corner might give you a surprise.
If you want to eat in Volterra, mark down these names:
Enoteca del Duca
Ristorante da Beppino
La Vecchia Lira
La Carabaccia
When you are planning a trip, do you prefer to visit the best-known cities or explore the less famous ones? What is the hidden gem you discovered? Let me know in the comments!
We wish we were there with you.
We were hit by Hurricane Ian. We are ok and today, 4 days after we have water and just got electricity. Many around us have lost everything. I did cook your wife’s Chicken Cacciatore before the storm eating it cold during the storm along with my homemade sourdough whole wheat bead.
Keep South West Florida in your prayers. Many have lost everything.
Don’t forget to visit the Pinacoteca Comunale and see Rosso Fiorentino’s Deposition from the Cross. It will take your breath as much as the views! Una bellissima città.