The area around Volterra has some beautiful towns to visit - if you click on each town name you'll be taken to Google Maps so you can find your way to each of these.
1. Montecatini Val di Cecina
20 minutes from Volterra and visible from miles away, Montecatini is an archetypal Tuscan hill village, perched high on a hill-top and crowned with a high tower that enjoys fabulous views over the valley of the Cecina river.
2. San Gimignano
30 minutes from Volterra, the medieval New York bristles with towers, a magical reminder of a combative time when the stone towers and walls were tested in battle. A popular tourist hot-spot, San Gimignano can be busy but is a wonderful place to visit - and if you can go out of season, all the better. Read more about it here: Exploring San Gimignano
3. Bolgheri
45 minutes from Volterra. This small town has been made famous in the last 50 years thanks to a small group of visionary wine-makers who saw the potential of this rocky and sandy terrain and started to make big, fruity, complex red wines known as "Super Tuscans". A great place to come wine-tasting - you can read more about the wineries here: Bolgheri, Tuscany''s Super wine area.
4. Casole d'Elsa
30 minutes from Volterra. This lovely hill town looks down on a patchwork of greenery and despite its small size has a lively village life with an art centre, restaurants, enoteca, ancient castle and friendly residents easy to interact with. There are concerts in the Romanesque Collegiata & festivals year round. Read more about it here: Exploring Casole d'Elsa
5. San Vincenzo
An hour from Volterra. If you'd like to go to the coast from Volterra there are few coast villages nicer than San Vincenzo - small, charming and slightly old-fashioned.
Author: Dan Wrightson
Dan Wrightson grew up in Tuscany, Italy and has been writing about, sketching and exploring Tuscany and Italy since 1983.
27th Dec 2022 13th Jan 2025