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The first edition of the Renaissance Fair at Colle Val d’Elsa! Our impressions

Anyone who has read our blog for a while probably has already understood we love to go to medieval festivals and that we often return to the ones held in Monteriggioni, Volterra and Roccatederighi in Tuscany. When we found out there would be a similar festival in Colle Val d’Elsa this year, right away we marked it on our calendars. This past Sunday, July 3, the entire Discover Tuscany made their way to Colle to go to “The Renaissance of Colle between 1479 and 1592”.

The dates the event’s official title refers to are important for Colle: the first marks the year Florence conceeded Colle citizenship in exchange for their fedelty against the Sienese enemy (1479) and the other was when Colle was proclaimed a diocese, marking it a city to all effects (1592).

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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 .

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