We hit the ground crawling for much of our first week back. Rather than striking out for new towns, we favoured spending time more slowly within the town of Volterra, leaving the latter half of the week for visiting a friend and a new town.

Day 1
Chill time. Of course breakfast was followed by gelato, what fool wouldn’t do that?! By the evening time, the cloud breakup was just right for the sunset and there were God-rays aplenty to be seen at the viewpoint at Fornelli. Afterwards, we had a colourful and tasty meal at La Vecchia Lira.

Day 2
The next day began with a morning explore and coffee, and a wander to the main square (Piazza dei Priori). We bought some salumi and cheese at this newish store on Via Gramsci (Bottega Toscana), and found it to be about 10-15% cheaper than the cheese store just around the corner from it. We had our coffee (in my case a hot chocolate) and pastry, and found something peculiar in the square when we went there afterwards.

There was a little TV crew there standing by a table with local produce. They were there to promote Volterra’s DOP pecorino cheese, which is notable because it’s made from a vegetable rennet, rather than the rennet from the stomach of an animal. I am not sure I have ever had this DOP cheese, but I looked for some in cheese shops in 2024, but to no avail. I suspect it might be expensive. Side question: if cheese is frequently made with animal rennet, what do you vegetarians do about that? Ignore it? Answers in the comments, please!

Additionally, they had an art exhibition – mostly sculptures, and many were absolutely wonderful. In fact, I’m kicking myself I didn’t take the names of the sculptors. They frequently have exhibitions in Volterra, many of which are completely free to enter.

Afterwards, we had a little walk around the town.

That night we rocked up to La Taverna della Terra di Mezzo for dinner, and a little calorie-burning walk after.

Day 3
Well we packed quite a bit in today! We actually got in the car and escaped Volterra for a bit. But first, of course, I had a little walk.

We had never visited Palaia before, and so took a trip there to check it out. Like many towns, especially just out of season, it was very quiet – but its main square is lovely, and there are some fantastic views of the hills around its edges.

The best part, though, is the square and the bell tower is wonderful.

We skipped around a park which I regret not going in. There is a restaurant there which gets good reviews, but it was closed on the day for us. We did something that we very rarely do for lunch: grab a sandwich. We went into a minimarket in the main square and shared a lovely ham, cheese and mayo… and honestly it really was delicious! Sometimes the simpler things in life is all you need.

We skipped town and, solely for our visual delight, drove into the best parts of the Val d’Era. And it is so lovely – it’s comparable to Val d’Orcia on a good day. That day, given the time of the year it was, the sky was cloudy, but the viewing distance was good. The problem with ambient light and no shadows is that you really don’t get the true shape of the hills or, sometimes, the depth of the vista. Plus I spoiled these shots by putting myself in them. But here they are anyway.

Rather than heading towards Volterra, though, we took an unfamiliar route towards Montaione. We had been in touch a virtual load with Tutto Torna Antique’s Emma. We arrived while she was closed for riposo, so we had a drink and nibbles in L’Antica Vineria Vanni. Nice place – I was complimented on my Italian, which always both mortifies and butters me up!

Anyway, we soon caught her, and we had one of those chats where it seemed like we’d known each other for ages – we were so comfortable in each other’s company, and our senses of humour were not too different (or to put it another way – mine was tolerated!). Two hours flew by, and it was just a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

We left in fine fettle. The only other thing to report on that day was the food we had that evening in Don Beta:

Day 4
The only thing of note we did this day, apart from

…was to drive all the way to Ponsacco, to an Asian-fusion place called Haru Sushi, which had been recommended by a pair of friends. Additionally, we had heard that you could get served by a robot waiter here, and so were intrigued.

The restaurant wasn’t in the sexier part of town, but there was ample parking immediately outside which we were happy about. We were sat down, and as is usual in these places now, used a fixed tablet to make our order (it’s either that a paper checkbox menu on which you write the numbers of the dishes you want ordered).

We ordered our stuff, and Lo! Along it came, bearing gifts… it wheeled slowly towards our table and we were thanked by the thing. The effect was somewhat spoiled by the human attendant who faithfully trotted after it, and set it to reset to it’s station as soon as we took our food. A cute gimmick!

In fairness, the food wasn’t half-bad, with the meat quality being among the better of those we’d been to previously. A particular standout was salt and chili cauliflower!

Below is a youtube video of the above. Have fun watching it!

We were going to do something special the next day, and it turned out to be a fun one, despite the weather, but more on that next time!

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