Volterra 1

Volterra is one of the older Tuscan hill towns, a member of the Etruscan League, with plenty of Roman remains as well. It has its share of tourists, but mostly independent travelers like us. We liked it sufficiently well to stay a couple days and nights.

Volterra main piazza and Palazzo dei Priori,

said to be the oldest public administration

building in Tuscany; setting up for a crossbow

tournament to be covered in a subsequent post

12th century duomo

Very dark inside and no Divine Illumination

Machine

The main reason we came to Volterra (other

than to see another nice, untrammeled
Tuscan hill town, one that seems to be 
coping gracefully with its fame): Rosso 
Fiorentino's Deposition from the Cross, 
widely regarded as the beginning of 
Mannerism (think Michaelangelo and pals); 
in the Pinacoteca

Closer up

Also Ghirlandaio's Christ in Glory, with its

two adoring Etruscan goddesses

In the fine little Etruscan museum

Etruscan gold work

Me and mini-me

1,000 Days Since Embarcation

So we drove on, eventually landing at a rare Italian lay-by, with a view even

Next morning we drove up to our next stop, Volterra

Looking at our website, as we do every few months, we noticed this (Saturday) 
was our 1,000th day since embarcation, according to the counter gadget there 
installed

So we hiked up the stairs from Volterra's (free) camper-stop, 
took in a bit of the beautiful old town (more later) and

And enjoyed a memorable lunch, wine and bruschetta with tomatoes, and

Sausage pizza for Vicki and wild boar in sausage, olive and 
onion sauce with little polenta cakes for me; reflecting on 
our 1,000 days of travel since September of 2008, and the

next 1,000 days...

Sans Jimmie-Johnny

I should explain that our pronunciation of San Gimignano derives from our years in Texas. (Rickie Stevie is derived, however, from Will Ferrell's Rickie Bobbie). We have visited San Jimmie-Johnny two or three times, and, speaking for myself, have found it a place that does not grow on you. Further, there is no camper parking except a couple miles from the town, a camper-stop where, for 22 euros (32U$D), you can park and take the free shuttle bus to town; when it runs; or, still further out, a parking lot where for 1 euro an hour you can park and take the regional bus back to Jimmie-Johnnie; whenever it runs. I don't mind paying reasonably for something worth seeing. I do mind being gouged for something that is vastly over-rated and that I have seen before. We drove on, probably never to see Jimmie-Johnnie again. So be it.

San Jimmie-Johnny at dusk

Something not in the tourist literature: about a mile from San

Gimignano is one of Italy's largest prisons; do not pick up

hitch-hikers...

Arezzo

We drove on to Arezzo, another hill town, famous for its continuing wealth as well as its great medieval and Renaissance art and architecture. What attracted us in particular was Piero della Francesca's 15th century Legend of the Holy Cross, one of the greatest of Italian frescoes (which is saying something), but there was plenty more to see. Arezzo is a bit off the usual tourist circuit. Despite abundant facilities, parking, a free camper-stop two blocks from the wall, excellent signage all over, we saw rather few tourists, no tour buses nor tour bus groups, and liked Arezzo so well we stayed two days and nights. I'll divide my posts between the city and its architecture and its art.

Among the abundant facilities and amenities, a

succession of scala mobili, escalators, takes

you from the parking lot up to the old city, in

the shade, too

The very large mostly 13th-15th century duomo, to which

we'll return for some art and illumination

The Francesca church, 13th century, not the

first church we have or will see with an

unfinished west facade; they built from the

chancel back through the nave, and typically

got to the facade last, often when funds had

given out or tastes had changed

Inside the Francesca, another vast but austere

Gothic church; we'll return in the next post for a

look at the frescoes that occupy most all of the

chancel

Santa Maria della Pieva, 13th-15th century,

one view of the Romanesque facade and huge

campanile

East side of Santa Maria della Pieve, which

fronts onto the Grande Piazza

And the Grande Piazza

The facade and campanile again; the latter with 40 bays

Interior; another huge church

Arezzo's public library, a beautiful old Renaissance palazzo

bearing the Medici coat of arms as well as many others

Next door, Petrach's house, where they're

doing some remodeling

House of Vasari, painter, architect, writer, Renaissance Man,

whose 1530 Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors,

and Architects makes him, some say, the first art historian

Interior of San Domenico, another 13th century Gothic

church, very austere, but home of Cimabue's Crucifix

Cortona

Cortona is the hill town made famous, well, somewhat famous, in Frances Mayes' Under the Tuscan Sun. We had both read the book--a very decent exercise in creative non-fiction--and seen the movie, which bore only the least passing similarity to the book. Anyhow, from Assisi we drove up to Cortona, passing from beautiful Umbria to beautiful Tuscany, hoping to take in some of the extolled Tuscan sun, atmosphere, ambience, etc. Alas, the parking situation at Cortona is dreadful. There were a dozen or more spaces alloted for campers, but nearly all were filled with tiny little local sedans. Even the bus parking lot was grid-locked. There really wasn't anything in Cortona on our must-see list, so we drove down the hill a bit, parked at a turn-out, and I hiked back up to see the one thing of interest, namely, the Etruscan gates. Probably not worth the hike.

Downtown Cortona from uptown

Tuscan countryside, and a finger of Lake Trasimeno

Gridlock; and the car parking was worse

The Etruscan Gates

My sentiment exactly; we drove on to Arezzo

Perugia

We needed a day or two off from hard-core sightseeing, Perugia affords a free camper-stop, so we decided to go there for a couple nights to rest and regroup. Perugia is the capital of Umbria, and we probably didn't do it justice as tourists. Maybe next time.

Under the big shade tree at the camper-stop

Perugia is a major chocolate center and we were parked just

below the Etruscan ChocoHotel

Practically the whole lobby is a showroom of all things

chocolate; well, maybe not all things, but many things you'd

not imagine in chocolate

Including a tub of chocolate ore; and, not pictured, chocolate
beer

We did take a bus to the up-town to see the piazza (reputedly

one of the best in Italy); above, one of the older buildings now

housing several museums (which we skipped)

The piazza and duomo

The griffin is Perugia's emblem, the lion is the Guelphs (or

possibly the Ghibellines; I forget)

The Fontana Maggiore, in the piazza

Very popular with pigeons

Interior of the duomo

In one of the odder religious representations I

have seen, Jesus looks on from his window

high on the duomo

Cat housing; on the street near a residence in Perugia; but not

on the residence

Tivoli

Our campsite at the Piazzale del Cimiteri; the Piazzale del

Bus Stazione was on the other side of the intersection

Why we didn't stay at the designated camper-stop: it became

the market on Wednesday morning

Local Renaissance castle; closed for repairs

Looking north-west from Tivoli

Hill-towns dot the horizon; some hills are just towns

Looking west to Rome and Tiburtina, and nearly continuous

development

Including some of the largest quarries (travertine) I have ever

seen

And, immediately below, a ruined mini-Pantheon