Traveling to Volterra

(This is part of our series of posts from our six-week Road Scholar Independent Living and Learning in Florence trip to Italy in Spring 2025. We have an index to all the posts from that trip here.)

Fridays are usually the last day in school for one or more of our non-Road Scholar classmates. Kendall has been studying at the ABC School for several weeks, since before we arrived, but today (Friday, May 16) was her final day of class. During our morning break between our grammatica and conversazione classes, many of us go to Madeline, a cafe at the end of the block, so I snapped this group photo to commemorate her last day. [Left to right: me, Nancy (another Road Scholar, from Pennsylvania), Hannah (from British Columbia), Andi (from Delaware), Urs (from Switzerland), Kendall (from Pennsylvania) and Max (from Florida).]

Our Road Scholar trip included a weekend “class field trip” to Volterra, a walled mountaintop town in western Tuscany, south of Pisa. The ancient town has been continuously inhabited since at least the 8th century BCE, and has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods. After class, we returned to our apartments to gather our luggage, and then traveled by private bus to the town. Brenda (in the foreground) is one of the teachers at the ABC School as well as one of our Road Scholar group leaders, and she accompanied us for the weekend.

The bus climbed high up into the hills around Volterra on a narrow, winding road, traversing a series of hairpin turns along the way that made all of glad we weren’t driving.

This contemporary sculpture, Anello by Volterra artist Mauro Staccioli, sits on a hilltop outside the town, providing a modern frame for the ancient hills of Tuscany.

David on Anello – to give you a sense of the sculpture’s size.

The duomo and campanile of the Volterra Cathedral, inside the old city walls high above the surrounding countryside.

The bus dropped us off, and while a porter took our luggage to the hotel, our group prepared to start our orientation walk through Volterra.

The green, rolling hills and small population of Volterra (only about 12,000 people) were a pleasant change from the tourist-packed city of Florence. Most of the tourists we encountered in Volterra, in fact, were Italians.

Walking through the streets of the medieval town.

As we came around a corner toward the Piazza Maggiore, we saw the tower of the Palazzo dei Priori.

The Palazzo dei Priori is a monumental Gothic-style civic building in the center of Volterra, located on the Piazza dei Priori, also known as Piazza Maggiore. The imposing 13th-century stone building still functions as the town hall.

Our group continuing our orientation walk through Volterra. The weather was still a bit chilly even in mid-May.

The Hotel San Lino, our accommodations for the weekend, was built as a convent in 1480 and then restyled as hotel in 1982. It’s probably the oldest building we’ve ever slept in.

After a short break to check in and unpack, we headed out with the rest of the group for dinner at Le Cantine del Palazzo Viti. In Italian, cantina means “basement”, and the restaurant’s dining rooms are indeed located in the basements of a building, visible through this street-level window.

The chef at Le Cantine talks to our group before the meal. Note the mural of clouds and blue sky on the barrel vaulted ceiling.

Cheryl and some of our Road Scholar friends at dinner.

On the way back to our hotel after a delicious dinner, the narrow stone-paved streets of Volterra looked especially beautiful and peaceful.