Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
The Greifvogel-Flugschau at Schloss Tirol is a bird-of-prey centre on the hillside above Dorf Tirol, where rescued wild birds are cared for and, when possible, released back into the wild. It combines a small wildlife refuge with live demonstrations, so visitors can see conservation work and flying displays in one place.
Continue reading “Rapaci”
The Parco fluviale dell’Alta Val d’Elsa is one of those places in Tuscany that feels refreshingly different from the usual hill towns and vineyards. It stretches along a lush river corridor between the bridge of Spugna and the district of Gracciano near Colle Val d’Elsa, offering a surprisingly wild and green landscape. Instead of sunburnt fields and cypress-lined ridges, you find clear running water, dense vegetation, and shaded pathways that invite you to slow down and explore.
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The Castello of Monteriggioni rises like a perfect medieval model on a low Tuscan hill, a compact ring of stone battlements and towers that seems almost designed to be admired from a distance. Built by the Republic of Siena in the early 13th century as a forward defensive outpost, its compact, circular curtain wall and regularly spaced towers created a stronghold that could watch the approaches toward both Siena and Firenze and control the nearby stretch of the Via Francigena. The castle’s origin as a purpose-built military settlement explains its unusually cohesive plan: rather than growing organically, the walls, gates and internal square were laid out with clear strategic intent, which gives Monteriggioni its rare sense of architectural unity.
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Elba is a large Tuscan island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, just off Italy’s western coast, and it is the biggest island in the Tuscan Archipelago. It combines a compact scale with a surprising variety of landscapes: sandy bays, rocky coves, wooded hills, and a rugged interior that feels much wilder than many visitors expect.
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The Parco Archeologico di Baratti e Populonia is one of the most evocative places on the Tuscan coast, because it combines Etruscan history with a striking sea-and-hills landscape. Populonia was the only Etruscan city built directly on the sea, and it became important thanks to ironworking and trade linked to the nearby Elba ore deposits.
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The Museo Subterraneo and Museo della Miniera in Massa Marittima are compact, atmospheric museums that recreate the experience of working underground and tell the long story of mining in the Colline Metallifere.
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Massa Marittima is one of the most atmospheric small cities in Tuscany, a place where medieval stonework, steep lanes and wide views come together beautifully. Its old centre feels surprisingly grand for such a compact town, and that is part of its charm.
Continue reading “Città di montagna”
Torre Grossa is the tallest tower in San Gimignano, rising to 54 metres in the heart of the historic centre beside the Palazzo Comunale. It began in 1300 and was completed in 1311, making it one of the best-preserved medieval towers in the town. Its square plan and stone-faced exterior are typical of San Gimignano’s tower houses, but its scale and prominence give it a particularly commanding presence.
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Volterra is a compact, hilltop town in Tuscany whose layered past is visible in almost every street and stone. Its origins reach back to the Villanovan and Etruscan periods, when it was known as Velathri and formed part of the Etruscan league; later it became the Roman Volaterrae and retained regional importance through late antiquity and the medieval centuries. Over time the city weathered sieges, civic rivalries and Florentine domination, all of which left architectural and civic traces – from Etruscan walls and Roman remains to medieval palazzi and a clearly articulated communal identity. That long continuity, with relatively little modern sprawl, gives Volterra an immediately ancient atmosphere that feels intact rather than reconstructed.
Continue reading “Twilight”
Piazza del Campo is the beating heart of Siena, and one of the most distinctive medieval squares in Italy. Its broad shell-like form came from the natural slope where the city’s streets once converged, and over time it was carefully shaped into a harmonious civic space rather than a simple market place.
Continue reading “Conchiglia”