A Very Volterran Halloween

Monday, October 31, 2022

Volterra, Italy

We arrived in Volterra today. We are staying at La Locanda, a small hotel with 18 rooms, recommended by Rick Steves. 

Our hotel room was ready when we arrived. It is very comfortable and charming.

The receptionist/manager warned us not to come down for breakfast at 7:30 tomorrow because she has a Rick Steves tour group of 27 staying here. She said they would be gone by 8:30 — and they were. (We were curious to see what kind of people take a Rick Steves tour, so we did go down earlier to grab some coffee and take a peek. They seemed to be in their 50’s and early 60’s, mostly female, very chatty and convivial.)

Today and tomorrow are holidays in Italy, and the 4-day weekend brought a lot of crowds to Volterra. On top of that, there is a truffle festival ending tomorrow, and today is Halloween. This is a busy place.

We wandered over to the main square, and we found a very crowded exhibition hall connected with the truffle (and cheese and meat) festival.

These truffles were in a glass case and it was hard to get a decent picture.

The cheese was quite pungent

We enjoyed a little aperitivo in the square. This orange drink is  called “Aperol Spritz.” 

It is, perhaps, the most popular drink in Italy. You see it everywhere. It is not a Halloween drink. It tastes rather bitter, with a hint of orange. It is horrible alone, but not so bad with food, especially greasy or salty food. Ours went well with crostini.

Such scrumptious crostini

The local children started to show up on the main street for trick -or-treating. Our hotel is on the main street, so we were able to see (and hear) everything. The young children wore costumes and went into the little shops on the main street to get candy. It was somewhat low-key. There were not many decorations and not many children. The costumes were very simple. After a while the noise level escalated as the sugar started to take effect and the older kids started to show up. Many of them had little fire-crackers that made loud, explosive noises. Apparently that is part of Halloween here. 

We went to a nice pizza and pasta place for dinner. They brought us a plate of schiacciata while we were reading the menu. It was like a flatter, crispier version of foccacia, or like plain pizza crust. It was like heaven. We ordered the hearty Tuscan vegetable soup to start with. Then I ordered a pizza with fresh porcini mushrooms and Ken got a spicy pizza. Mine was so flavorful, but it was more than I could finish.

The Tuscan vegetable soup with a plate of schiacchiata in the upper right corner

Pizza with porcini mushrooms

When we walked back to the hotel, there were crowds everywhere. The “kids” old enough to drink were out. All the little bars were full, and the overflow filled up the narrow streets. People just stand in the street, talking, drinking, smoking. Every once in a while a vehicle comes along. You don’t see how it will get through, but it does. Progress toward our hotel was slow.

Back in our hotel room, we listened to incessant talking, loud talking and yelling in the street beneath our windows, interspersed with firecrackers. Since tomorrow is a holiday, too, nobody has to get up early. 

Today’s color is orange.