Yes, Twilight fans, Mary and I visited Volterra, home of the Vulturi (For the non-Twilight readers, the Italian hill-town of Volterra is the setting for part of the second Twilight book where vampire royalty live) and Montepulciano, where Twilight New Moon was filmed (the city was a stand in for Volterra).
Rick Steves has recommended both towns long before Stephanie Meyer re-invented Volterra as a vampire home, so it's not like we went just to see vampires.
But I have to say, seeing the cult of Edward and Bella that has developed was one of the highlights. Take for example this alabaster thing (paperweight maybe?).
Or this great poster in the tourist information window in Volterra (reflection of the square in the background).
And this hilarious Twilight walking tour of Volterra. Note how at each spot, there's a quote from the book in the bottom left. "You have two minutes! Go, Bella, Go!" etc.
The two squares really aren't that much different, so I'm not sure I totally understand the reason for using Montepulciano as a stand-in for Volterra in the movie. My guess is it's not the squares but the clock tower they liked better (again, for non Twilight readers, the clock tower features significantly in the climax of the book).
Here's the Volterra clock tower:
And the Montepulciano tower:
Both towns were quite nice, but I think I'd take Volterra over Montepulciano. Here are a couple pictures from there.
So … enough posting about Twilight. Next up, Siena!
