*Well, if anybody could survive an untoward disturbance like this, it would be Italians.
*Apparently the key to surviving major tourist infestations is to feed and shelter them, while
trying to persuade them to have sex with one another, rather than anybody on the ground.
*Emotionally vulnerable Twihard fans can likely be handled by selling 'em more "abstinence porn" about particularly aloof, opaque and morally principled guys.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2009-11-05-twilight-volterra-italy_N.htm?obref=obnetwork
VOLTERRA, Italy — On a college break, American teenager Kiersten Kunke and her friend, Canadian Stephanie Regier, plot their version of an Italian Grand Tour. On their must-see list: Florence, Venice, Rome — and Volterra?
This small Tuscan city with an ancient Etruscan history has become a cult destination among traveling teenagers and people in their 20s (not to mention some vampire-loving mothers), thanks to the phenomenon Twilight. In the series' second book, author Stephenie Meyer set a crucial scene between heroine Bella and her undead soul mate Edward in Volterra — and, as The Twilight Saga: New Moon prepares to open as a movie Nov. 20, fans are dying to retrace the tormented couple's steps.
PHOTO GALLERY: A 'New Moon' tour of Volterra
READ MORE: It's 'Twilight' time in the Pacific Northwest
Backpackers carrying battered copies of New Moon duck through the narrow alleyways of the walled city, which has about 12,000 residents. Souvenir shops hawk calendars, mugs and T-shirts bearing the tousled likeness of actor Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward in the films. (((I hope they're taking the euro-dollar ratio into account and selling that stuff at half off.)))
And whether fans are Team Edward or Team Jacob (Bella's two love interests in New Moon), all want to visit the Piazza dei Priori, the town's square anchored by a clock tower where the Volturi — a coven of elite vampires that plays a pivotal role in the upcoming movie — reside.
Kunke, 19, found Volterra on a map as soon as she read New Moon. "I was like, I have to go there," says the native of Portland, Ore. "It was just one of those things I had to do."
Long overshadowed by its more touristy Tuscan neighbor, San Gimignano, Volterra is capitalizing on the interest....
