The last time we were in Volterra was in 2008, spending time with friends in Tuscany and Umbria.
One day we planned a day to visit Volterra followed by a trip to San Gimignano but liked Volterra so much that instead of heading on to San Gimignano, we spent the day in Volterra checking out some of the sites such as the Museo Guarnacci’s Estrucan artifacts, the Palazzo dei Priori, Pinaoteca e Museo Civico an art gallery and museum and see some alabaster statues and objects d’art at various studios/workshops. Craftsmen there have been carving locally mined alabaster for 2,500 years. And let’s not forget lunch!!
This trip there was just the two of us and as Volterra is such a beautiful location, being very high up, it made a great choice for my husband, a photographer. It seemed a good reason to return. Last January Volterra suffered a huge mudslide when a large part of the cliff 
simply fell away. Luckily the road remains and it appears as though the houses there are OK. Luckily the Etruscan Gate remains intact! Near the end of WWII when the German’s were retreating, the people of Volterra decided that the gate might be in jeopardy of being destroyed, so they took the gate apart, stone by stone, identifying each one so that when the time came they could re-assemble it and that is just what they did…an absolute miracle!
We arrived late morning, doing some wandering and picture taking. The last time we were here I wanted to buy something made from alabaster until I realized that taking home wine and olive oil was “more important.” It’s time for lunch!
“Let’s see if we can find that cute place we liked so much last time, what was it called?” Somehow or other “husband/navigator” found it without much ado! Il pozzo degli Etruschi Ristorante is so inviting and when I explained in Italian, I might add, that we had been there six years ago they were absolutely delighted! The word pozzo in Italian means “well” and sure enough there it is, right in the middle of the ristorante…luckily it’s fitted with a plexi-glass cover!
It was nice to be back, so much pasta, so little time. We shared a melon and prosciutto “primi” then Joe ordered fresh pasta with a Sicilian sauce full of eggplant and zucchini in a light tomato sauce and being at least within “spitting distance” of Liguria, I ordered fresh tagliolini with pesto, probably because it would match my shirt! We enjoyed our pasta enormously with a nice bit of vino rosso! After lingering for a bit over a macchiato we went off to continue the photo shoot.
