Park Hotel Le Fonti, Volterra ****
Pisa, Tuscany  Park Hotel Le Fonti, Volterra - sitting amide the rolling hills of Tuscany, this magnificent modern hotel is just a ten-minute walk from the centre of historic Volterra. This Volterra hotel combines the best of modern comforts with easy access to the ancient walled city. The hotel has a new... View hotel Double rooms from €45
Hotel Nazionale, Volterra ***
Pisa, Tuscany  The Hotel Nazionale in Volterra - this Volterra hotel has a superb position, just 50 metres from the Piazza dei Priori, often described as 'one of the most beautiful squares in all Italy'. View hotel Double rooms from €65
Hotel La Foresteria, Volterra ***
Pisa, Tuscany  The Hotel La Foresteria, Volterra - this is a delightful new hotel in a superb historic setting. This Volterra hotel lies just a kilometre from the Porta a Selci, one of the most important gates in to the old walled medieval centre of town. View hotel Double rooms from €41
|
Writers have fallen over themselves trying to evoke the stark beauty of Volterra on the page. For DH Lawrence 'it gets all the wind and sees all the world, a sort of inland island'. Stendahl endured the romantic disaster of his meeting with Matilde Dembowski in 'On Love'. And it is its rather stern and otherworldly atmosphere, clad in the yellow-grey 'panchino' stone, that has attracted the gloomier modern writers. Thomas Harris namechecks Volterra in 'Hannibal' while Stephanie Meyer sets her vampire novel New Moon in the city. Her family of vampire, the Volturi, live beneath the city and lure unsuspecting tourists to their deaths. Lest we overdo the doom and gloom though, let's stress that Volterra is an essential and very lovely addition to anyone's itinerary of Tuscany. It doesn't pull the crowds of a Florence, Siena or Pisa, and it's all the better for that. This was once a mighty power, the hill town dating from Etruscan times, but going into decline in the Middle Ages, and seeing the growth in those great engines of medieval Tuscan growth - banking and trade - rather passing it by. Volterra in fact has been in decline rather for the past 700 years and today occupies less than a third of its traditional area, houses and town walls being allowed to slide into the valley below. That though is history, and today the fabric of Volterra is being slowly rebuilt. There is much to see, and historically things begin with the Roman Theatre, dating from the first century BC and excavated in the 1950s. The Piazza dei Priori, with the Palazzo dei Priori, is one of Italy's loveliest town squares. The town council has been holding session at the Palazzo since 1257. The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta is superb and neighbours the 13th century Baptistery. There is the Maschio or Medici Fortress, and the Guarnacci Etruscan Museum, with countless of funerary urns from the Hellenistic and Archaic periods. Other must-sees are Parco Archeologico, the Arco Etrusco and the Pinacoteca Comunale. To the left you'll find a selection of Volterra hotels, just to whet your appetite. See also Volterra hotels (full listings) and our Volterra hotel map. |
| Italian cities: | Bologna Hotels :: Como Hotels :: Florence Hotels :: Genoa Hotels :: Lucca Hotels :: Milan Hotels :: Naples Hotels :: Palermo Hotels :: Pisa Hotels :: Rome Hotels :: Siena Hotels :: Turin Hotels :: Venice Hotels :: Bergamo Hotels |
© copyright ahotelinitaly.com 2010