Montecatini Trip - 6 - Volterra

Thursday 30th June 2005 - Volterra

We drove down towards Fuccechia & off towards Empoli, then South along the Old Road to Siena, going off right at Castel Fiorentini towards Gambassi Terme. Off the main road with its slow traffic, the road was 'green' & well into Chiantishire. There was a long slog up to Volterra, which is high on a dominating hill & had, to our surprise, an underground car park, E2.60 in the end. The main square has a 1200 period municipal building with a tall tower, a model for the Florence one, apparently. We explored the St Mary Magdalene Church, had coffees (only E1.03 each) & examined the cathedral, which is tucked away by the square & had a remarkable ceiling of carved wood as well as some decent paintings, one by Fra Bartollemeo in new condition. Then, I went down to the Etruscan Gate, as Avis baulked at the steep drop, to find the Etruscan heads eroded into unrecognisability. This all took a couple of hours.

Then, we set off towards the sea near Cecina, a long way it seemed, if only 42km. We picked up the old motorway & headed North, being tossed off it fortunately South of Livorno, as we went along the sea, which was quite rough. Then, back towards Fucecchio on the other old motorway &, instead of going due North, went to Vinci, Leonardo's home village, which was interesting but unhospitable i.e. no coffee under E3.

We carried on an extremely windy road with fantastic views to Pistoia. which seemed to be surrounded by nurseries with rows of trees etc as far as the eye can see & then, back from there. A swim & read by the pool. Dinner was awful. My pasta starter was ok but Avis' prawn cocktail was soggy with mayonnaise & had no tomato purée or paprika. The veal seemed reconstituted with watery spinach & lumpy allegedly mashed potato. Pudding was a flavourless tiramisu. We (the British) all agreed that this was 1950's school dinners.