Sovana

One of the main attractions outside of Sovana is a series of walking trails which take you through the hill side on ancient Etruscan paths, where there are caves and tracks etched into the landscape. There are also a number of necropoli and other monuments scattered throughout the countryside, but we focussed on a walk through one path and back along another. It had the added advantage of taking us across the gorge with views back across to Sovana, which was spectacular.

We walked for about 2 hours through the hills. The track we took to the other side was obviously quite well used, however we decided to take what turned out to be the road considerably less travelled on the way back. The path was not that well signed, steep and covered with leaf litter, which made it a bit treacherous in our "not built for hiking" shoes. I did slip on a steep bit, hit my head on the ground (ouch!) but otherwise, it was a great trek through the forest. We were all pretty impressed!

It was possible to still see in the caves the marks made by whatever implements were used to carve them out in the first place. The tracks were impressive in terms of their depth. Rather enterprising people those Etruscans!Läs mer