Volterra, Italy ~ Oct 16-Nov 13, 2024

Chose this place as a home base in Tuscany for a month on a whim. Heard it was beautiful. It has not disappointed. I can see why this hilltop was the most important place for the different peoples in this area for thousands of years. Some of those thousands of years of history are amazingly well preserved here too. <swoon>

The residents, many of whom are artisans, have been lovely. It’s amazing given the busloads of tourists they deal with multiple times of day everyday (even this late in the year - can’t imagine what it’s like in the summer).

I wonder if I’ll ever get bored of all the history and beauty (erm, and the food) here.

There's also ugliness, of course, as there is everywhere. Reminders of horrible wars and atrocities. We walked around an abandoned "asylum" that was closed down in the 1970s (along with many others in this and other countries) after it became clear that the methods of "caring" for mental illness up to that point was deemed cruel and harmful. One of the walls along the main courtyard was lined with etchings one of the residents made during his decades there. Wild. And interesting side note: several of the residents assisted the accountant working there in the 50s to uncover the buried Roman amphitheater and Etruscan ruins, when the government and archeological societies would not provide any support for the endeavor.