"Old Village" Colle di Val d'Elsa by BruceDunning

Colle di Val d'Elsa Travel Guide: 6 reviews and 35 photos

Map of the area.

Map of the surrounding area shows that the town is ideally situated between two famous other towns that you most likely would visit; Siena and San Gimignano. It is a bit of a winding trip to get to Colle di Val D'Elsa, but well worth the trek.

Serene View of the terrain.

View coming to the city from main road

The main entry is Porto Nuova, and it is a thrill to go through the portico, a small arched cave like setting.

Typical narrow streets the wander through

Side street looking back toward square

The best part of the visit is to walk around, and possibly get your directions turned around. There is an upper and lower part of the town; citta alta and citta basso. The living part of the city for locals is mostly in the Alta section which is a hilly ridge running the length to the edge of the hill. In the middle is the tour sites and shops called the Piano section.

Pros and Cons

Pros:Enjoyable decent sized city for strolling
Cons:If you stayed here, not much to do buyt shop-eat.
In a nutshell:The view coming into the city tells is all-pretty-original

Last visit to Colle di Val d'Elsa: Oct 2005
Intro Updated Aug 8, 2008
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Reviews (4)

Parking at the bottom of the city - Colle di Val d'Elsa

Park at the Bottom Transportation (1)

The only parking is a rather small area at the bottom before Porto Nuovo. It is easy to access in that coming off the... more travel advice

Clock Tower in Piazzo Duomo - Colle di Val d'Elsa

The main square Things to Do (3)

The city has a lead glass museum and a museum of religious and civic art. The crystal glass museum is fabulous and worth... more travel advice

Street ending into another residential via - Colle di Val d'Elsa

Variety of Wonderful Streets Things to Do (3)

The pure joy of this city is that the streets, or vias are not occupied by tourists, and all seem quite, clean and... more travel advice

Pictoral entering the town - Colle di Val d'Elsa

See the lovely inside Things to Do (3)

There is an upper and lower part to the town. It it rather quite due to most people live here and apparently go... more travel advice

Comments (5)

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travelgourmet Nov 16, 2010 at 2:00 PM

Ciao, Bruce. Thanks for taking a few photos of this quaint town, Colle di Val d'Elsa. My wife and I spent 4 nites in Colle and visited the many hill towns nearby.
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breughel Jun 29, 2010 at 4:30 AM

Hello Bruce, you visited a large number of less or not popular (at least on VT) towns in Italy like Orbetello, Colle di Val d'Elsa, Talamone where I happened to pass, often years ago.
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craic Dec 2, 2009 at 5:10 AM

I would love the crystal museum.
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hunterV Nov 8, 2009 at 10:47 AM

Hi, Bruce! ><>< Thanks for your page! I woud pay a visit to Italy with pleasure too.....
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deecat Jun 11, 2009 at 6:18 PM

Now, I would really enjoy the Leaded glass Museum, the palace, the Duomo, and the other museum. Lovely.