Fodor's Expert Review Le Balze

Volterra Free

Walk along Via San Lino, through Porta San Francesco, and out Borgo Santo Stefano into Le Balze—a haunting, undulating landscape of yellow earth drawn into crags and gullies that's thought to be the result of rainwater wearing down the soil substructure. This area was originally part of the Etruscan town of Velathri, as evidenced by walls that extend 1 km (½ mile) toward the old Porta Menseri. Toward the end of the road, on the right, is the church of San Giusto (with terra-cotta statues of the town's patron saints) built to replace an earlier church under which the earth had eroded. The bus for Borgo San Giusto, leaving from Piazza Martiri, goes through Le Balze (about 10 runs per day).

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Volterra, Tuscany  Italy

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