jousting – Our Man In Volterra

Oh my God, I am a full year behind on these things now. I can’t make any promises to catch up, as I fear they will be empty. I really enjoy writing them and uploading the photos, but I’ve been busy in work, and with other writing projects. I’ll keep up as best as I can – I promise!

Friday, June 16th
We had a quiet couple of days, but on the Friday, we did go to Colle di Val d’Elsa for one of the largest markets I’ve seen (it’s on every Friday, I think).

I think there was a Sicilian stall there, at which we bought some fab dried pasta. We had our friend with us, and stopped in a fab pasticceria, Bar Pasticceria Garibaldi. We had a lovely pastry and refreshing drink, and then walked about town, admiring the stalls. We stopped off at La Selleria, where I bought a riding hat that looked like a baseball cap. I spent too much money on that, but it’s a lovely store! The hat was made by Stetson, so do I get to call myself a cowboy now? Maybe not.

Before we were ready to go, we went to the Conad supermarket so our friend could get a little shopping in. We did a little ourselves and drove back to Volterra.

That evening, we went to La Vecchia Lira for a nice, big dinner. Massimo, the owner, brought over a black truffle the size of a newborn’s head. The food was especially good!

Afterwards, we had a stroll in the near-parts of town to burn off a calorie or two.

Saturday, 17th June
I could add narrative to the pictures below, but I won’t. Instead, I might add an inline comment or two. The truth is, I don’t remember much about this day. The next day was more interesting.

Sunday, 18th June
After having such rock and roll days so far during the weekend, it was time to slow down and visit one of Tuscany’s larger towns – one we hadn’t visited before – Arezzo!

Arezzo is famous for its gorgeous central piazza, and the huge antiques market that occurs there monthly. We would miss the market date, but at least we’d have a perfectly unobscured view of the piazza! Wouldn’t we?

It’s about a two hour drive from Volterra to Arezzo, and we left mid-to-late morning so we could grab lunch there. But were we going to have pasta all’aglione? Heck, naw. We were on an Oriental kick, and we’d spotted a place we wanted to try, not too far from the train station: Ristorante Giapponese Tao. Now, when you order food in a Japanese/Chinese place, you are handed a large menu, on which each dish is numbered. You get a slip of paper, where you note the number of the dish you want and how many of said dish you want. There is no strict order of arrival for the plates – what ever is ready will arrive – I’ve often been given a plate of fried rice to begin my meal, while stir-fries and spring rolls may arrive later. Also, the portions are rather small, but inexpensive. Usually.

So, we inadvertently ordered a metric ton of food.

We were halfway through our dishes, full, and realised that there were more on the way – we realised we’d messed-up. We asked for about a third of our overall order to be bagged for take-away, and with our tails between our legs, headed back to the car to deposit the grub – which wasn’t bad, by the way.

We walked gingerly, with swaying bellies, up to Arezzo’s old town, from the carpark. It was a very hilly affair!

As usual for hilltows, the residential parts were quite quiet. We wound our way to a very large piazza (Piazza della Libertà), only a few blocks northwest from the more famous Piazza Grande – our original aim. We had overshot, but that was ok as we had calories to burn!

We only stuck around here for a few minutes before asking Missus Google to take us to the main attraction. It was a little downhill from where we were, so that was ok. It was also certainly beginning to get a little busier. One thing we did notice is that although Arezzo’s old town doesn’t seem to be massive, it does have a big modern town surrounding it – and so it would be a good place for shopping, should you desire (a little foreshadowing!).

Then we turned down a road and got a first distant glance of the main square, and walked towards and…. ah crap! Every year, a great many Italian towns host a medieval festival. Some are spectacular shows, and some are a little more interactive. Volterra’s one is fab – it’s both large and interactive, and has some shows too. Here are some blogs on Volterra’s.

Anyway, Arezzo have a show in the main square – but no ordinary show, no sir. Theirs is a full-on jousting competition – knights in armour, horses, lances – the works. Theirs had been held just the previous day, and so we did not get any unobstructed views of the square due to work vehicles, sand everywhere, barriers and a massive gantry for the audience. Still, I have to say the square is a bit special. One side of it is fully lined with a lovely arcade of bars and restaurants. The different heights of the buildings, coupled with the rounded apse of the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pieve add to its extraordinary charm.

We took a bundle of snaps, spent 15 minutes queueing in a souvenir store to buy a couple of knick-knacks and then stopped off at one of the bars in the arcade for a drink and to use the facilities. Then, we had a look at our watches. It was a going to be a long drive back, as I was at the wheel and I often like to turn off motorways and instead have Google take us on country routes. So, fully knowing there was a bunch more to see in Arezzo, we had to say goodbye.

On the way back to the car, we paused a while to watch a little medieval parade pass by – you can see this in the video below. We also paused for 15 or so minutes to check out an OVS – they’re a clothes shop brand in many malls and large towns here. The we took some shots and went home – took us 2.5 hours and we were exhausted.