Our villa is in a valley, about a 10 min. drive over the mountain on twisty dusty narrow roads to the oldest Tuscan town called Volterra. It is famous for many things, but especially alabaster and the arch leading into the city centre. After spending a leisurely day in the countryside exploring the Co-op grocery store, learning how not to handle the produce with our bare hands; trying to read all the Italian labels; and devouring a delicious home-cooked Tuscan dinner back at the villa; all 9 nine of us went for a tour of old town Volterra.
From the center of Volterra, a stepped stone lane runs southwest to the Arco Etrusco (Etruscan Arch), a gate in the ancient circuit of walls. The dressed stones flanking the gateway and the three much-weathered heads on the arch, date from the fourth-third centuries B.C. The arch itself was rebuilt in Roman times, and the masonry on either side of the gate is medieval.
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