A top ten hilltop hill topped  town

Volterra perched in Tuscan sky

We cycled up and up to find 

Villa Nencini, end of ride 

 

From Neolithic distant past Etruscan wealth and peace were built 

Uninterrupted boundary wall 

envelopes this day's village still 

 

Then Roman might subdued the old

In turn subdued by northern Goths 

Until Byzantine rose and fell

To Medieval long lost past 

 

The renaissance came this way then

And church and art combined to change

The way they thought of god and place

And power and pomp took hold again. 

 

The cyclists languish by the pool

From Hellenists to hedonists 

And who can judge as life goes on 

The way it did, the way it must.