There are two ways for becoming acquainted with Val di Cecina and Volterra: either you stay some time in a villa in Pisa and organise two or three one-day trips or you browse the many online offers looking for a typical Tuscan villa right in that corner of the region.

A strip of land that stretches among the provinces of Livorno and Pisa, Val di Cecina is still relatively unknown to mass tourism. The region owes its name to the homonymous river that flows through it before reaching the Ligurian Sea. Its main towns are Pomarance (which is particularly renowned for the borax fumaroles in Larderello), Cecina (an appreciated seaside resort), and Volterra. The other towns of the area, which have a population of barely 2,000 inhabitants, are worth a visit as well: Montescudaio, for instance, is in the list of the most beautiful villages in Italy.

Volterra... or Velathri, as its founders, the Etruscans, called it (we suggest archaeology lovers to read the chapter of this tourist guide dedicated to the tomb of the Etruscan prince), dominates the surroundings from the top a hill. There you have many things to see: the Museo Etrusco "Mario Guarnacci", which is renowned for its collection of cinerary urns, the Roman theatre just outside the city walls, which dates back to the 1st century BC, the Pinacoteca and the Museo Civico, as well as the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and the Museo Diocesano di Arte Sacra.

Just a last tip for your shopping in Volterra: do not forget to visit the workshops where the artisan masters work alabaster!