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Dear Bloggers,

I would like to introduce you Volterra, the Italian town which inspired Stephenie Meyer, the Twilight series’ writer, to make it the stage of her second bestseller of the saga, New Moon.

Volterra is a city of art that, like few others, can document with its monuments of great importance, the Etruscan, Roman, Medieval and Renaissance history. It is dominated by a hill across the valley of Cecina, in the province of Pisa. It is the ideal destination for a holiday in Tuscany  in direct contact with the calm and peace of the countryside.

All its monuments can be admired simply walking through the streets of the historic center, but also visiting the three major museums: the Etruscan Museum, the Art Gallery and the Museum of Sacred Art .

The most important monument is the “Palazzo dei Priori”, the oldest municipal palace in Tuscany, whose foundation dates from as early as the 13th century.

You cannot talk about Volterra without mentioning Alabaster, a typical italian artistic handicraft.

It has been used since by the Etruscans and the craftsmen carved it to obtain cinerary urns (they are now exhibited in the Guarnacci Museum)

At the end of the 18th century, after a long period during which the craft of alabaster had virtually died out, Volterra saw a new Renaissance, and workshops sprang up with a high quality production that reached every part of the world and which concerns all kind of handicrafts like lamps, small decorative boxes, jewelery, etc.

In New Moon, Volterra is the ancient Italian city where the Volturi, the largest and most powerful coven of vampires, reside.

Originally, Stephenie Meyer planned to make this vampires living in a fictional city called "Volturin". She had decided that the city, with a clock tower in its main square, would be in Tuscany. After examining all the small towns of Tuscany, she found that Volterra was very close to her fictional town. Thus, she decided to use the real city of Volterra in the series.

If you are keen on the Twilight series I suggest you to do a playful walking guided tour, searching in all the monuments that surround the mysterious past of the powerful vampire rulers of Volterra and visiting the alabaster workshop to discover the diaphanous stone, like the skin of the dreadful vampires. To take the most from the visit, I warmly recommend to read again the 20th chapter of New Moon.

In Volterra I have found a small souvenir, inspired from Twilight series. It is a heart-shaped paperweight made of Alabaster.

How to get there:

By train.
- From the North of Italy. Take the train "Genova-Pisa", direction Roma and stop at Pisa Centro. Then take the bus "Pisa/Pontedera/Volterra" or the train "Pisa-Firenze", direction Firenze and stop at Pontedera. Then take the bus "Pontedera/Volterra".
Otherwise take the train "Bologna-Firenze", direction Firenze and stop at Firenze S. Maria Novella. From here take the bus "Firenze/Colle Val D'Elsa/Volterra" or the train "Firenze-Pisa", direction Pisa and stop at Pontedera. Then take the bus "Pontedera/Volterra".
- From the South of Italy. Take the train "Roma-Firenze", direction Firenze and stop at Firenze S. Maria Novella. From here take the bus "Firenze/Colle Val D'Elsa/Volterra" or the train "Pisa-Firenze", direction Firenze and stop at Pontedera. Then take the bus "Pontedera/Volterra".
Otherwise take the train "Roma-Genova", direction Genova and stop at Cecina. Then take the train "Cecina/Saline di Volterra" or the bus "Saline di Volterra/Volterra".

By car.
- From the North take highway A15 Parma/La Spezia, direction La Spezia and exit La Spezia. Then take A12 Genova /Livorno, direction Livorno and exit Pisa Centro. Take road S.G.C. FI/PI/LI, direction Firenze and exit Pontedera and take the road SS. 439 for Volterra.
You can also exit at Rosignano Marittimo and take the road SS. Aurelia, direction Grosseto and exit at Cecina, then take road S.S. 68 for Volterra.
Otherwise take highway A1 Bologna/Firenze, direction Firenze and exit Firenze Impruneta, take the road S.G.C. Firenze/Siena, direction Siena and exit at Colle Val d’Elsa Nord. Than take the road SS. 68 for Volterra.
- From the South take highway A12 Roma/Civitavecchia, and exit at Civitavecchia, then take the road SS. Aurelia, direction Livorno and exit at Cecina, take the road SS. 68 for Volterra.
Otherwise take the highway A1 Roma/Firenze, direction Firenze and exit at Val di Chiana, take the road SS. 326, direction Siena and then take the road Siena/Firenze, direction Firenze and exit at Colle Val d’Elsa Sud. Then take SS. 68 for Volterra.

By plane.
- Aeroporto Internazionale G. Galilei, Pisa
- Aeroporto Amerigo Vespucci Aeroporto Internazionale, Peretola-Firenze.

Guenda