Colle di Val d’Elsa

Colle di Val D’Elsa is a charming little hill town, less than a half hour's drive from our base in Sovicille, perfect for a leisurely day of sight seeing and eating. We visited there during our fourth week in Tuscany,

 After a harrowing search for parking—Larry nearly drove off the side of a cliff and had to back down a narrow drive, with the help of a helpful and providential local resident, avoiding both a pole and a large medieval looking building, while trying not drive off the cliff. 

Once safety parked and our nerves under control, we took the elevator to the upper and older part of town.

There we found a town seemingly frozen in time—that is if you ignore the cars and electricity, which on this quiet day was fairly easy to do.

The main thoroughfare is lined with 16th & 17th century palazzi, built by Florence's Medicis and their allies.

The 17th century Duomo is lovely—particularly when you open the door and hear the parish organist practicing. We all sat down in an available pew to listen. Wondering on a bit more, we stopped at a beautiful little bridge.

There a friendly citizen obligingly  offered to take  our picture—we are only six now, since we said goodbye to Steve and Jennifer a few days prior to our visit to Colle —but we really liked the photo.  

Restaurants were few and far between, but we finally stumbled onto a lovely little Enoteca, or wine bar, that also served simple Tuscan fare. 

It was another great experience, with Patricia and Pietro, the owners, treating us like friends and family. You Can imagine how good the wine was. 

Our final stop in town (after the compulsory gelateria)  was to visit a small,  crystal museum and shop—Colle is the heart of the crystal industry in Italy—someone told us that they creat something like 90% of  the lead crystal produced in Italy.

There we met Guido who showed us some of his crystal creations—which we just had to buy.

Below the museum, we spotted an old fountain which is called the smiling fountain, for obvious reasons. 

You crank the "tongue” back and forth to  pump the water.




A perfect day—like so many we have enjoyed these last three weeks.