Podere San Lorenzo

Volterra

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In this tranquil model of slow tourism you dip straight into a rural idyll. An alluring spring-fed swimming pool is located next to an enviable veggie garden; apartments sleep between two and four (some have private terraces) and rooms are quiet. Dinners (per person €30 including wine) are served in a former 12th-century chapel.

Walking, biking and hands-on olive-oil production opportunities are available, as are cooking classes. The farm is located some 3km outside Volterra, accessed via a narrow, almost hidden road that is signed off the SS68 (right-hand-side) as you drive up to the town from the direction of Siena, Florence and San Gimignano. Staff are happy to drop off or pick up guests from a bus stop a short distance away, making trips to and from town easy.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

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Nearby Volterra attractions

1. Museo Etrusco Guarnacci

1.28 MILES

The vast collection of artefacts exhibited here makes this one of Italy's most impressive Etruscan collections. Found locally, they include some 600…

2. Museo Diocesano d'Arte Sacra Volterra

1.32 MILES

Offering an innovative and particularly satisfying museum experience, this collection of sacred art is housed in the still-functioning Chiesa di San…

3. Fortezza Medicea

1.32 MILES

The 14th-century Fortezza Medicea, later altered by Lorenzo Il Magnifico, is nowadays a prison (admission: one felony), but the 'Nuova Fortezza' within…

4. Palazzo Pretorio

1.51 MILES

Forming one side of Volterra's central square, the Palazzo Pretorio was the seat of the local mayor. From it sprouts one of the town's oldest towers, the…

5. Teatro Romano

1.52 MILES

The grassy ranks of seating and towering columns of Italy's finest and best-preserved Roman theatre makes this a particularly evocative archaeological…

6. Palazzo dei Priori

1.53 MILES

Volterra's 13th-century town hall is the oldest seat of local government in Tuscany. The staircase bears a fresco of the Crucifixion by Pier Francesco…

7. Ecomuseo dell'Alabastro

1.53 MILES

As befits a town that's hewn the precious material from nearby quarries since Etruscan times, Volterra is the proud possessor of an alabaster museum. It's…

8. Pinacoteca Comunale

1.53 MILES

Local, Sienese and Florentine art holds sway in this modest collection in the Palazzo Minucci Solaini. Taddeo di Bartolo's Madonna Enthroned with Child …