Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Volterra e Miscianello

Volterra is famous for its Roman and Etruscan ruines. It's another wonderful town on top of a hill. I liked it better than San Gimignano, maybe because it was a little bit less turistic..
Here is the main square:
And this is a typical road:
Some of the doors of the towns still date to the Etruscan period (IV century BC):

And there is a very famous amphitheater that dates back to Roman period (I century BC):

It's absolutely amazing how well preserved this is.. you can imagine people go on the stage and play the comedies or tragedies, with that nice background made with columns, and all the audience listening, admired..

From Volterra, we headed towards our 'hotel' close to Siena. We decided not to stay in a real hotel, but in an 'Agriturismo', that is a sort of villa in the middle of the countryside, where people live and cultivate the land, and rent a few rooms to visitors. We chose our Agriturismo on-line. It was a really good choice. It was on top of a hill, and to go there, we passed through a little wood, then vineyards, and then olive trees. Our guest was super-nice to us, he let us stay in the whole 2-story cottage, with three bedrooms, and a kitchen, and gave us three bottles of the wine that he himself produced (one per night of our staying). It was all nicely furnished, in wood, and the dishes and everything were really nice. This was the view from our window that welcomed us when we arrived, at the sunset:
If you want to see more pictures of our Agriturismo, there are a few more in my picture website. Also, Miscianello has a website.
This place was very close to Siena, so we decided to go there both that night, and the day after to visit the town during the daylight.

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