I returned yesterday from Volterra in Tuscany – for Etruscan specialists, this is the stoney medieval town Velathri founded by the Etruscans in the 8th c BC. For others among you (including some of my close friends – you know who you are) the location of Stephanie Meyers’ recent bestselling Twilight series.
The city is a vivacious, beautifully intricate medieval town - although 7 kms of the wall walk was laid out by the Etruscans - perched atop a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful rolling hills as far as the eye can see, right down to the sea. The ancient stone walls (la cinta muraria) that embrace the town – and apparently also define whether you are a posh Volterrano or not, ie whether you live entro le mura o fuori le mura – are a feat of stonemasonry and anti-instrusion planning tactics. (Very aptly they also house an imposing prison which still functions today.) They are also used by local kids to engage in sassaiole - or throwing stones onto your friends below the walls.
During one morning run I found it incredibly difficult to find a way back into the city, once I had passed a gate or arch in the ramparts – the walls and routes relentlessly chucked me outwards. This was frustrating at first, and then it made me smile. Any footsoldier in the service of Florentine powers led by Lorenzo il Magnifico who braved the scramble up the steep hill and the hot oil and the enemy snipers would, had he had the misfortune of breaking through without a map, have probably been churned out as soon as he had broken through. Result!
(Volterra did however eventually succumb to Lorenzo's armies in 1472.)
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