Your version of history

Let the ruins of Italy inspire you and write your version of history. Who might have lived here? What worries plagued him and what did he enjoy? Back then, in the Middle Ages, at the fountain outside the gates of Volterra, maybe a young draper fell in love with a pretty maid? Also, how many sighs have the ruins of the remote miners’ settle­ment in the forest heard? These are the questi­ons one may ask when disco­ve­ring ruins. And the beauty is: you can let your imagi­na­tion run wild. Indeed, you can invent a lively hustle and bustle and make yours­elf the protago­nist of a bygone era.

There are plenty of oppor­tu­ni­ties for such daydre­a­ming around the Podere Palazzone holiday home. Basically, in Tuscany there are ruins from all eras, start­ing with the Etruscans up to the last century. For example, temples, tombs, defen­sive walls, towers, and gates have been preser­ved from antiquity. The Middle Ages, instead, left us the ruins of bridges, castles, churches, and monas­te­ries. Further­more, the ravages of time left their mark on abando­ned more recent buildings, such as farmsteads, on craft workshops, palazzi, and chapels.

Some of these ruins in Tuscany can be viewed as part of museal excava­tion sites, such as in Populo­nia, Vetulo­nia, Roselle or on the Volterra Acropo­lis. But it might be even more exciting explo­ring the small remote sites on your own. To do so, you need a dash of curio­sity, a thirst for adven­ture and good shoes. Appar­ently, nature seems to have taken it upon itself to erase the signs of time. In fact, many ruins are ensnared by thick tree roots and rest in their slumber, overgrown by tendrils. For example, the Castello dei Vescovi, whose profile can be glimpsed in the distance from the edge of the pool at our Agitu­rismo. Or the small monas­tery of San Michele dei Bagni, whose warm springs in the Middle Ages offered relieve to the lepers.

For adventurers

A touch of Indiana Jones comes to mind when explo­ring the mining settle­ments in the Monte­rufoli Nature Park. Because, between the old shafts and water channels, it’s almost a bit spooky. In the midst of the ruins of houses and fireplaces, one can vividly imagine the life of the miners. Also, abando­ned buildings quickly become breeding grounds for stories about paranor­mal pheno­mena. This is what happened to the wicked Casa Stregata in the maquis of Pomarance. Or is it the other way around? There were the paranor­mal pheno­mena first and that’s why the house was abandoned?

Finding such ruins in Tuscany requi­res good local knowledge. We’re happy to give you tips on how to reach them.