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When we visited Volterra last year, we passed by Colla Val d’Elsa which seemed to be a beautiful medieval town. We didn’t have a chance to stop then to visit it, but this past weekend, taking advantage that we were in the area for the medieval fair at Monteriggioni we decided to spend a day exploring Colle. It was a very pleasant discovery.

Colle Val d’Elsa is about 15 minutes from Monteriggioni which is where we were staying, right below the castle at the Residence La Rosa. The residence is very nice and small with only a few rooms and two apartments. We got the small apartment for 2 nights. The place is very close to Monteriggioni but being between the castle and the Firenze-Siena roadway took away from some of the tranquility we were expecting to find. The owners, father and son Aldo and Paolo were welcoming and nice, offering us a bottle of wine they produce on the farm.

We had no problems finding parking once we arrived in Colle, there were several parking lots right below the historical center (since Colle means hill you can clearly understand the old town is foun on a hill). The modern part of the town spreads out in the surrounding valley.

We followed a path from the parking lot up toward the Porta Nuova, or New Door, that guards the city’s entrance from Volterra. Imposing, with two large round towers and medievals walls to the side and a moat! It seems we have stepped back in time but we are brought back to our time as a car comes out of the medieval door .

Continue reading about our day in Colle Val d' Elsa »

Joust Tournament

We spent this last weekend around Monteriggioni since its medieval fair has become one of our favorite summer events. We took advantage to visit the area as well, visiting Colle Val d’Elsa and we’ll soon post about what we saw there.

“Monteriggioni di Torri si Corona” or “Monteriggioni Crowned by Towers” (the phrase comes from Dante Alighieri) is a medieval fair that takes place over two long weekends every July in this beautiful castle near Siena. The castle, very well conserved, is a pleasure to visit and ideal setting for recreating past eras.

It is easy to go back to the Middle Ages when surrounded by the large defensive walls and giant towers, walking amidst knights in armor, minstrels, musicians and tables set up to illustrate medieval crafts. A step back to medieval times is always fascinating, not least because it offers the possibility of being centuries away from our responsibilities of daily life especially once we turn off our cell phones .

Read more about Monteriggioni Medieval Fair

It’s time for one of our favourite events in Tuscany: the medieval festival of Monteriggioni. Monteriggioni is a beautiful medieval castle with giant towers near Siena. It has been the setting of several medieval battles between the armies of Florence and Siena, and it’s the perfect location to recreate medieval times.
The festival started last weekend on the 3d of july, we will be going this friday (10th) and saturday, maybe on sunday too for the last day. Learn more about the festival on the official site of “Monteriggioni di Torri si Corona” .
This video, from last year’s edition, shows a reenactement of the medieval battle during the siege of the castle by the Florentines, in 1526. Unfortunately the audio of the first part is only in Italian!

I have finally edited and uploaded on our Youtube channel a video of this year’s Regatta of San Ranieri. It was a little bit long to wait in the sun for over an hour, anyway here you have it all in less than 5 minutes . You can find more info on the Regatta here on our article.