San Gimignano and Volterra

02 June

A pen and ink drawing of San Gimignano - from the steps of the church - by Pocho

Writing 2008.06.02.1755 La Cisterna Hotel, San Gimignano, Italy

We left San Gimignano for our walk at 0800 after breakfast at the hotel. We drove eastward towards Volterra and the coast. The bus dropped us off at a gravel road that took us through the countryside. I spent a fair amount of time using the small camera that has a nice short focal length to get close-ups of the many wildflowers along the road. The weather had been threatening and I left the big camera in my pack initially. Eventually I did bring it out when I wanted long shots of the countryside, although it spent a fair amount of time protected in a Ziploc bag when we experienced light rain. Eventually we reached Villa Palagione, a villa where students from various countries, especially Germany, come to study art. There was a café on the premises, so I had a cappuccino as we sat under the trees protected from the light rain.

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Heading down the road for the morning walk.

Tuscan countryside.

Scotch broom framing the landscape.

More road.

More countryside.

More Scotch broom.

More road.

Jonathan contemplates the scenery.

Field of poppies.

More poppies.

Demi-johns.

Talking cameras - Jonathan, Pocho, and Gianni.

The road we followed is on the left side of this image.

More countryside.

Looking back from whence we came.

Wildflowers - I don't know the names of most of them, except where noted – I did arrange them chromatically.

Wildflower.

Wildflower

Feline in pot, azaeleas in the background.

Sullla (Hedysarum coronarium).

Pomegranate (Punica granatum).

Poppies and sulla.

Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius).

Wildflower.

Honeysuckle.

Wildflower.

Olive (Olea europaea).

Jonathan identifies this as probably Fuller's Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum).

Wild - but no flowers. Sipping coffee under the tree sheltered from rain.

From there the bus took us to Volterra, another hilltop town that dates back to the Etruscans in ~300 BCE. Very similar to San Gimignano, it is known as a center for work in alabaster, and an exceptionally good Etruscan museum. We were on our own for lunch which Gianni kept describing as a “free lunch.” Jonathan, Joanna and I decided to go into the first restaurant to make our meeting time of 1415. Lunch was unremarkable, but the rain thickened outside during our meal. The weather in Volterra was cooler and slightly breezy due to the proximity of the ocean.

Immediately after lunch we checked out the alabaster store next door to the restaurant, where I bought three small pieces in the shape of owls for the girls in Rhode Island. Shortly thereafter, we met Angelica and Gianni and were joined by Claire and Glenn. Our Columbian contingent was delayed at their restaurant by the holiday crowds (June 2 is Republic Day in Italy, celebrating the referendum in 1946 that abolished the monarchy and established the current Republic.) So Angelica took us by the Roman amphitheatre and then through the Etruscan museum.

Unfortunately I was nursing a headache at the time and really was focused on the remarkable range of funerary urns and other artifacts in the museum. Afterwards, Gianni and Angelica swapped, and Gianni led us back through the town where there were various re-enactors in medieval garb, although I got the sense that Gianni was a bit dubious about the authenticity of the activities. Before heading back to the bus, Gianni bought us gelato, and we waited not very long for our South American walkers to rejoin us at the bus.

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Some of the re-enactors in Volterra.

Ruins of a Roman amphitheatre.

Out beyond the amphitheater, a church.

You've heard so much about these. Do you really have to ask?

Re-enactors.

A noble re-enactor.

A drumming corps.

I liked the antique look of all the houses, dotted with the modern satellite dishes.

The traffic out of Volterra going inland was quite heavy – stop and go even – due to the holiday, the fact that most people visiting the coast use this route to get to the main highway, and construction that reduced the road to a single lane that was controlled by a stoplight. Once past the construction, we got back to San Gimignano fairly quickly as the town began to empty of tourist on day trips. Jonathan and I went back to our room to work on journals as Gianni and Angelica hosted the rest of the group to gelato.

Writing 2008.06.03.1950 La Cisterna Hotel, San Gimignano, Italy

Dinner was after 2000 tonight at a restaurant, Ristorante Dorando, a fabulous restaurant featuring “slow food.” I started with a tortino fiordilatte e melanzane con fonduta di pomodoro e basilico – this was thinly sliced eggplant with cheese and spinach, molded, and served on a field of tomato and basil sauces. My first course was cannellone di ricotta di pecora con crema di asparagi e tatufo. The second course was scallopa di orata con filetto di pomodoro, patate e olive Taggiasche – sea bass on thinly sliced potatoes with olive and tomatoes. Dessert (Dulce) was cornucopia croccante al caramello con insalatina di frutta fresca – a cone shaped pastry filled with caramel cream topped with fresh fruit salad. All very delish!!