Walking in Tuscany

If you’re relying on public transport to reach the walks, you will need to stay in either Florence or Siena. With a car, you have much more scope — from renting a countryside villa to staying on a farm.

8 car tours, 75 Long and short walks

144 pages +2 touring maps (north and south Tuscany), 1:50,000 topo maps based on OpenStreetMap source material
3rd ed, 2018; ISBN 978-1-85691-506-9 UK retail price £12.99 / USA retail price $18.00

Table of contents:

Preface 5
Acknowledgements; Books; Glossary 6
Getting about 7
Picnicking 8

TOURING
1 The foothills of the Apennines – the Mugello 14
2 Hilltop villages and gentle hills of the Chianti 17
3 Marble mountains of the Alpi Apuane, and the Garfagnana 20
4 The cool hills and forests of the Pratomagno, and the valley of the Casentino 24
5 Hilltop fortress towns west of Siena 28
6 The dramatic landscape of the Sienese Crete 31
7 Around Monte Amiata – volcanic landscape, hot springs and skiing 34
8 Southern Tuscany, forgotten since the Etruscans 37

WALKING
Maps and waymarks 40
Right of way 40
A word of caution 40
Timings and distances 41
The walking notes 41

WALKS NORTH OF FLORENCE
Around Florence
1 From Bivigliano to Fiesole 42
2 Circuit from Fiesole via Settignano and Vincigliata 46
3 Circuit from Cercina via Monte Morello 51

The Mugello
4 Circuits around San Piero a Sieve and Trebbio 55
5 Circuit from Sant’Agata via the Apennine ridge 60

In the Alpi Apuane
6 Along Michelangelo’s road, from Seravezza towards Monte Altissimo 63
7 Circuit below Monte Procinto via the Alta Matanna refuge 66
8 Circuit from Fociomboli via Favilla and the Foce di Mosceta 69

In the Garfagnana
9 Bagni di Lucca circuit 73

The Alpe di San Benedetto
10 Monte Falco, Monte Falterona and the source of the Arno 77

WALKS BETWEEN FLORENCE AND SIENA
In the Pratomagno
11 Circuit from the abbey at Vallombrosa via Monte Secchieta 80
12 Circuit from Caspri via Monte Cocollo and Poggio Montrago 83

The Chianti
13 Circuit from the Badia a Passignano 87
14 Circuit round Mugnana, La Panca and Sezzate 90
15 Circuit from Gaiole via the Castello di Meleto and Barbischio 94
16 Circuit from Monte San Michele via Volpaia 98
17 Circuit from Radda via Volpaia 101

Around Volterra
18 Circuit from San Donato (near San Gimignano) 104
19 Circuit from the walls of Volterra 107

WALKS SOUTH OF SIENA
In the Crete
20 Circuit from Monte Oliveto via San Giovanni d’Asso 110

The Val d’Orcia
21 From Montalcino to the abbey of Sant’Antimo 114
22 Circuit round Bagno Vignoni 118
23 Circuit of three castles, from Castiglione d’Orcia 122
24 Circuit from Vivo d’Orcia on the slopes of Monte Amiata 126

WALKS IN SOUTHERN TUSCANY
25 From Pitigliano to Sovana 130
26 Circuit from Saturnia 134

HINTS FOR WALKERS
When to walk in Tuscany 137
Where to stay 137
What to wear 137
What to carry 138
What you need to know 138
How to ask for help 139
Buses 140
Refreshments 141
The country code and safety guidelines 141
Emergency telephone numbers 142
Index 143
Fold-out touring maps inside back cover

Tuscany, 3rd edition (published 20/3/2018); updated 17/10/2019

Updates for walks and car tours (drives) in Tuscany given below supplement those provided in the guidebook. It is vital that this Update is read in conjunction with the text of the book, but note that the Update applies only to the edition stated and not to any earlier editions. (If you have an older edition of this book you can “upgrade” to the latest edition at half price.)

Information has been forwarded to us by users of the book, and Sunflower Books offers the data in good faith but cannot be held responsible for any misleading or inaccurate content in the Update. Unless indicated otherwise, what appears here has not been verified by the author or publisher, so please allow due caution when new or amended routes are suggested. Each piece of information is dated; bear in mind that some of the older observations may have since been overtaken by events or further changes. If, during your holiday, you are using the current edition of the guide and are able to provide any additional updating to add to this page, we will be pleased to hear from you. Please send information, preferably by e-mail, to info@sunflowerbooks.co.uk.

General
Fences and gates at vineyards: This year (2019) Sunflower has received a few updates about 7ft-high fences well secured (see, for instance, Walk 17). One use wrote, there is a sign saying “Podere Terreno. Please open and close the gate. Animal eat vineyard(!)” Another user writes: “The locals say that new vineyards spring up and the fences are to keep animals out rather than humans. These are 7’ high, 3” mesh metal fences that would certainly deter humans – not least because the 3mm twisting wire securing top and bottom these “Greek-style gates” seem to be designed for occasional tractor use. I guess elephants may be deterred by the vertical metal. Monkeys would love the climb and the giraffes can just lean over and pick the best bunches!! Seriously these fences seem to be all of the same pattern and ubiquitous … to the heartache of walkers and the wild boar through the Tuscan hills.”

Walk 2: After (2) where it says” just past “Le Cave di Maiano “ restaurant, on left, a track joins at a very sharp angle. Well, there is a restaurant called ‘Cave Mare’ on the left after asphalt comes underfoot, and I mistook it for ‘Le Cave di Maiano’. I ended up on a private path with a smelly cesspit. The correct restaurant is the ‘Trattoria Cave di Maiano’, 130m further on, and the track off to left is another 130m beyond that…“If you have time, do visit the castle [of Vincigliata]” says our guide. It took 20 mins of circumnavigating the walls to find it was shut …and then on the opposite page 55 of the guide it states “it is only open to the public occasionally! How can the author encourage a visit and one page later say it is virtually impossible? (User, 10/19)

Walk 6: Between waypoints 1 & 2 the last 10 minutes of the old cobbled mule track is rather narrow and very overgrown before it meets the quarry road. (User, 9/18)

Walk 7: Here is an alternative return route for this walk – more gentle, longer, but missing out the circuit of Monte Procinto (which you could do on the way up). From the Refugio Alto Matanna retrace your steps to just above the fencing of the Refugio grounds. Leave the original path to go right onto path 109, CAI-marked but not numbered immediately, around the back of Monte Nona. This path climbs and contours, soon through woodlands. After about half an hour from the Refuge there is a boundary fence across the path (2h15min), but there is access for walkers. At 2h50min you meet a junction of paths: yours is the first left, CAI route 8: it takes you over the ridge, to begin your zigzagging descent down a stone mule track. When you CAI route 6 (3h05min), follow it to the left ­ it is your path back to your car, though there are several junctions on the way. At the junction with CAI 8 (3h10min), go left; at the junction with CAI 121 (3h13min) go right; at the junction with CAI 5bis (3h15min) go right. This is where you meet the path for the original descent, CAI 6, signposted for Stazzema. All these routes are shown on the map, but not highlighted in colour. (Author)

Walk 8: We never found the start point of this walk as our Satnav could not find “Strada Versilia Carducci”. Later discovered we should have been looking for “Via Versiliana Carducci”. However, after a 700m ascent we found ourselves in a working marble quarry, which because it was Sunday, meant we could explore the vast marble caverns up close. If other readers find themselves at the top of a winding road out of Levigliani and where the tarmac ends there is a Grotta exit, this is the wrong road; they should turn around and return to Levigliani, turning right at the bottom of the hill and keep bearing right to find “Via Versiliani Carducci”. (User, 9/18)

Walk 12, Shorter walk 1: One has to laugh at waypoint 1, the terracotta doves have been replaced by eagles ( although the one on the right-hand gate is so overgrown it is impossible to discern what it is). I enjoyed a good steep Climb to Monte Cocollo but no way could I find the alternate route for the descent. Never mind, I retraced steps in lovely 5pm sunshine. (User, 10/19) [Sunflower: It is so clear on Google Earth! It is a pity that more walkers do not use our free GPS tracks to look at walks in advance, even if they are not using GPS on the ground.]

Walk 13: The “red arrow on a tree” has been replaced by an orange arrow on a post directing you down to the river. We considered this walk to be easy, not moderate as described. (User, 9/18)

Walk 15: Important: It appears that the first part of this walk, to the Siena road, is poorly waymarked and unpleasant. There is a first update from 2018 and another from 2019 (both September).  “Spaltenna”, keeping the hotel complex on your left, you can no longer walk down the side of the vineyard to the pond as there have been some extensive security fencing works carried out which are electrified. You must now walk ahead towards the wood and turn left dropping down to the pond with the vineyard on your left. There is a faded waymark post at the turn point. Effectively walking almost three sides of the vineyard to join the track at the pond. We would also recommend following the waymarks until you have reached the Siena Road. The waymarks have been recently repainted and the drop to the road is rather steep over rocky ground. (User, 9/18) + I strongly recommend that the first hour of this walk be reviewed and rewritten. The update on your website is also very confusing. Here is the feedback from two very experienced walkers. Firstly the “lake” is not visible as it is completely covered in vegetation. Shortly after the “lake” you are met with a high metal fence, which luckily we were able to open (no help from the book there). You then find yourself in a vineyard surrounded by high fencing which prevents you from “heading into the trees”. We encountered lots of farm machinery going up and down the fields. The waymarking (unlike the rest of the walk) is very faded. An indication maybe that this walk is not locally recommended esp. by the CAI. The walk map indicates that one should pass the San Pierone church to the left however there is a very clear sign saying that this route is “vietato” (forbidden) to walkers. This required yet another hunt for faded waymarks. Finally having passed the “FARMHOUSE half way down (40min)” we had to escape from the vineyard by disentangling yet another tall metal fence before crossing a wooden bridge (not mentioned) and “dropping down to the SIENA ROAD” where we went “left and immediately right over the bridge (signposted for CASTELLO DI MELETO”). The rest of the walk was excellent. Please just change the section at the start as far as the SIENA ROAD. In spite of how intimidating the tall metal fences look, there is no problem opening them once you know how. All that is required is untwisting a small piece of wire and then opening and re-closing and securing the wire again. (User, 9/19) 

Walk 16: Described as “Quite Easy” but in our view the tracks from Badiaccia are extremely rough and navigation to follow the route is best served by using a compass. Where the narrative is marked with an asterisk (*) and it reads “Ignoring all offshoots, take the stony/grassy track” … you actually need to turn right onto a narrower track where there are still two somewhat illegible local markers on a post. There was evidence of some bike use along this route but just befor the ruins of Dogole and onwards the track was extremely rough underfoot. From waypoints 6-9 we recommend following the red/white waymarks. Just to note that we completed this walk on a day when the temp. reached 31C. (User, 9/18)

Walk 17: On the descent from the “tiny chapel” the “large pottery” is actually a paving slab manufacturer… Everything is fine until waypoint 2 (25 mins). The “rough trail on the right” has quite a lot of brambles and is in parts fairly overgrown. The “pasture” mentioned is now an overgrown field with wildflowers. The “bridges” can be fairly difficult to spot due to vegetation and absence of water in the streams underneath. A bit of imagination is needed here. However, when you get to “Some 150 m before the road, just as you reach the woods, take a rising woodland track on the left….” things get really difficult. We walked up and down this section of road but could find no start to a track. The map (page 106) seems to indicate that you walk between the woodland and what is now a vineyard surrounded by high fences and therefore impassable. We followed a narrow gap between the woodland and the vineyard where we eventually found a very indistinct and quite overgrown “track”. We endured a 30 minute struggle through yet more brambles. At this point we decided to cut our losses and took the road up to waypoint 3, Santa Maria Novella church. From here it was fairly easy to navigate to Volpaia… However, things got difficult again after waypoint 6 (2h10 mins). When you get to the “well-maintained house” there is a sign saying no entry to pedestrians. We first attempted to “skirt” the house to the right but were hemmed in by high fences. We then managed to open a “Greek style” gate into a vineyard on the left about 100 metres before the house. This brought us to the left of the house where we found another “Greek style” gate that allowed us to walk along the driveway of the house and onto the road to the T-junction (2h30min). The “Holiday Centre” at waypoint 8 (2h40min) has a huge wooden gate that needs to be opened. There is a sign saying “Podere Terreno. Please open and close the gate. Animal eat vineyard(!)”. We walked “between the buildings and straight down towards the Pesa River”. However, the way was blocked by high fencing and another “Greek style gate” which was extremely difficult to open (it had powerful spring handles top and bottom that needed to be released). We descended to the river and saw the “electric fence” to our right. There was no discernable “track on your left”. However we “headed towards the trees” and got to the “concrete bridge” along the “rough track”. We finally got to the road (3h). The walk back to Radda was quite harrowing with cars speeding along sometimes a foot or two away from you as there is quite often no walkable verge. I measured the walk using ViewRanger and the overall height gain came to 750m and not 550m as stated in the book. Clearly, due to lack of use this route has become very overgrown with faded tracks and new buildings and vineyards with high fences blocking access or at least making progress extremely difficult. (User, 9/19)

Walk 18: I could not find any obvious track between waypoints 2 and 3. I just headed up to the high ground at la Piano via the cypress avenue. (User, 10/19) [Sunflower: We are not sure what this user means; if anyone else can clarify what may have gone wrong here we would appreciate it.]

Walk 19: At around the 2h stage “tabernacle…” I could find no turn off left to join a second mule track. There was a private drive with metal gates. So abandoned plan and walked up road. (User, 10/19) [Sunflower: the mule track passes just beside the tabernacle; it is to the right of a track running sharp left to a house. The text might be better worded: “… just before a tabernacle, take a mule track heading half-left up the hillside, ignoring a gated track turning off sharp left to a house”.]