Tuscan Hill Towns: Circling "San Jimmy-Johnny" & Ascending to Volterra

San Gimignano

One September afternoon in 2015 my friends and I headed for San Gimignano, perhaps the most famous of the Tuscan hill towns. San Gimignano is easily recognized from a distance by the 13 medieval towers that rise from within its city walls. Originally the town had 72 of these tall towers, built as status symbols by prominent 14th century families to show off their wealth and power! San Gimignano (my friend Laurie dubbed it San Jimmy-Johnny) was mobbed with tourist vehicles on that day, and we couldn't find a parking spot! We circled the town walls twice, searching for somewhere to tuck our car, but all parking lots were full, as was the street parking. We gave up and set our sights for Volterra, a 40 minute drive west from San Gimignano. 

Volterra is perched high on a hilltop, with spectacular views in every direction. On the steep winding drive up to the town we happened upon a very cool sculpture- a giant circle that framed the picturesque hills in the distance. I later learned that it was created by Mauro Staccioli, a native of Volterra. 




Many Tuscan towns were built on hilltops during medieval times, when such a position gave a defensive advantage. Steep, narrow streets are the norm, and many of these towns are still surrounded by their high city walls.

tufa fossils

Volterra's streets were really steep, testing our leg muscles! They are paved with local tufa, a type of limestone. To our delight, we discovered that many of the pavers have fossils embedded in them! The ancient buildings are built with limestone, too, giving Volterra the appealing ochre color that bathes so many of the Tuscan towns.

Alabaster table in the Palazzo Viti 

Volterra is famous for another type of stone: alabaster. Inhabitants of this place have been carving alabaster since Etruscan times. The Guarnacci museum here has hundreds of cinerary urns fashioned from this stone as early as the 4th century BCE. We saw shops offering all kinds of things carved from alabaster, including lamp shades. In the Duomo there were alabaster windows that filtered in a soft dreamy light. Because alabaster is translucent, and can be cut very thin, it was used in medieval churches for small windows. We visited Volterra's Palazzo Viti, where we saw huge candelabras carved from alabaster, and rooms full of the rich furnishings that the alabaster trade afforded the family that once owned this wonderful place.  

Alabaster in Voterra: window in the Duomo, an alabaster workshop, alabaster candelabra in Palazzo Viti

In 1850 alabaster trader Guiseppe Viti bought his palazzo, which had been built by a Volterran nobleman at the end of the 16th century. Viti made extensive changes to the interior, and furnished it with items he bought on his extensive travels, and with plenty of alabaster treasures made in the Viti factory: tables, chandeliers, sideboards, frames, and candelabras. Viti's descendants still inhabit this fantastic place, and have opened 12 of its rooms to the public.

The Palazzo Viti is enormous! This long view through a number of rooms gives an idea of its size. 







At the far end, framed by the last doorway, was a curious figure...a creepy blue-headed, hand-less guy with baggy purple leggings. He appeared at the end of the self-guided tour (perhaps as a warning of what would happen to sticky-fingered tourists who tried to escape with a purloined souvenir of the palazzo:) He reminds me that in recent years, Volterra has become a magnet for fans of other creepy creatures. In the popular Twilight books written by Stephanie Meyer, Volterra is the ancient city inhabited by the most powerful coven of her fictional vampires, the Volturi.