Italy - Bella Toscana!

September 2007

In September we were extremely fortunate to attend the wedding of Robert's cousin Renate and her partner Valdo in Volterra, Italy, a beautiful hilltop town in Tuscany.

The town was a Neolithic settlement and an important Etruscan center with an original civilization; it became a municipium in the Roman Age. The city was a bishop's residence in the fifth century and its episcopal power was affirmed during the twelfth century. With the decline of the episcopate, Volterra was the subject of the interest of Florence, which defeated Volterra many times though rebellions sometimes took place. When the Florentian Republic fell in 1530, Volterra came under the control of the Medici family and later followed the history of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

In and Around Volterra

Page 1 | Page 2 (Wedding day!) | Page 3

Click Photos for a Larger View

Manfred, Renate, Liza and Valdo	The Palazzo dei Priori (note 5-sided tower)	The Duomo	Palazzo Pretorio and Il Porcellino
Passageway	Enjoying gelato and the beautiful views	Manfred, Renate, Valdo, Manuel, Robert, Liza	City view, from outside our hotel room
La Fortezza Medicea	Robert on the balcony at Renate's & Valdo's home	View from their balcony overlooking the Piazza XX Settembre	Renate and Robert out for a walk
Nice walking paths in Volterra...	Outside the Porta Fiorentina, one of the gates in the medieval wall	Beautiful doors...	The garden outside our room at our hotel, the Albergo Etruria
Robert outside the upper gates to the hotel property - literally a 5-minute walk to Renate's	Around the dining table...Robert, Benjy, Manuel, Valdo, Manfred, Renate	How to keep your roof tiles from blowing off...rocks!	Towers in San Gimignano
Robert with his wine in San Gimigiano	...and Liza with hers, a little Brunello di Montalcino ($$$$)	Liza in San Gimignano	Towers in San Gimignano
Robert in SG. We remembered this area from our cycling trip several years earlier...	In SG...	US Army BDUs for sale! Or at least, knockoffs.	Back in Volterra, prosciutto at the market
Robert eyeing the meats and cheeses at the market	Yum	Liza at the Roman theatre and baths in Volterra	Roman theatre and baths
View up from the ruins	...and a view down from the top to see the ampitheatre	Liza at the Acropolis, Volterra
Liza buying fruit at the market	A wine/Tuscan specialties store... complete with boar's head!		Robert enjoying his lunch in the garden outside our room

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