Volterra reminds me of Siena, it sits on a hill surrounded by walls. In the Fall the fog creeps in from the valley, so that standing on the outskirts of Volterra all you see is the incoming mist, which covers the lush Tuscan landscape with an opaqueness that still allows you to see the outlines of the countryside that's below.
The town is small--smaller than Siena, and because of the rain most of the shops are closed. We stay at a four-star hotel, that offers less than half rate for their rooms, now that it's the off-season. For dinner they insist that we make reservations, but as we sit through a lengthy two hour meal, we find that throughout our entire dinner, we're the only two guests.
The rain interrupts our walk at night, so we explore the grounds of the hotel instead. The two swimming pools that look straight into the mist, and the indoor pools that are too cool to be warm, and too warm to be cold. The rain falls all night, so we stay inside, reading-because it's a luxury that we rarely have time for anymore.
In the morning we are sad to go. Sad to leave a place where there is nothing really to do, because it's been a few months since we've had nothing to do. Before our bus arrives, we explore the town by foot, which takes under an hour--yet we still discover ancient ruins that neither of us expected.
On the way home it's too dark to see the Persimmon trees, so instead we sleep, dreaming of their glowing orange ornaments which stood out so vividly in the fog.
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