Our self-guided walks through the gentle landscape of Tuscany take us through a countryside that is timeless. Tuscany is a region well suited to a walking pace and there is much to absorb. Here are some of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe with their Romanesque churches and buildings. We walk through a varied countryside of rolling hills, vineyards, olive groves and forests alive with colour. Tuscany offers many gastronomic delights: pecorino cheese, wild boar dishes and porcini mushrooms, and need we remind you it is also Chianti country.
Your Itinerary
Day 1:
Arrive Volterra via Pisa. Either bus or train is taken from Pisa to Pontedera, where you change onto a local bus service (not Sundays) to Volterra. Journey from the airport to the first hotel is not included in the tour price. The combined train and bus fare is around 12,500 lire (£5.50) per person. It is possible to reach Volterra by public transport on Sundays, but by a more circuitous and expensive route.
(B) (D)
Day 2:
By road to Pignano, walk back to Volterra. One option for today, involving about four hours walking, is a short bus or taxi ride (2000 L approx by bus, not included in tour price) to the hamlet of Pignano, from where it is an easy walk back to Volterra, mostly along white roads which follow a broad winding and panoramic ridge. Halfway through the walk there is normally the opportunity to stop for a welcome drink at a retreat centre, from where you can contemplate exploring the steep and somewhat overgrown Monte Voltraio- a mysterious attraction on account of its peculiar truncated cone shape. A palaeontologist's dream as the ground appears to be scattered with fossils. On a hot day the less adventurous will be more inclined to continue on to Volterra. Overnight Volterra.
(B)
Day 3:
Pignano to San Gimignano. About 4 hours' walking (8 miles/12km). The hotel arranges for a taxi to take you to the starting point of the walk at Bivio di Castelvecchio (taxi fare included in price of holiday). Alternatively you can be dropped off by the taxi at yesterday's starting point, Pignano, from where it is about 30 minutes' pleasant walking to Bivio di Castelvecchio. This extra half hour would enable you to cover the whole distance between Volterra and San Gimignano on foot in the course of days 2 and 3. You walk between vineyards and through oak woods with wild cyclamen in flower in autumn and fine views of the old ruined fortifications of Castelvecchio. You continue to the pretty village of San Donato and the small hamlet of Montauto with fine views of San Gimignano, before continuing by farm track and / or road to San Gimignano, known as the town of the beautiful towers and has dominated the hills south of the Elsa Valley since Etruscan times. There is much to explore in this small town, in particular the narrow streets and squares of the medieval quarter. Overnight San Gimignano.
(B) (D)
Day 4:
: San Gimignano to Colle Val d'Elsa. 3.5 hours walking/ 10 miles. You follow a white road along a broad panoramic ridge with fine views back to the towers of San Gimignano. On either side are vineyards (source of the local dry white Vernaccia), olive groves and cypress avenues. Later we climb up through shady woods to the small village of Montecchio and across level fields to Borgatello, and on into Colle Val d’Elsa, where the fascinating old town occupies the crest of a ridge high above the valley of the Elsa. Overnight Colle Val d’Elsa.
(B)
Day 5:
Colle Val d'Elsa to Monteriggioni. 4 hours' walk/ 12km. After walking out of Colle through a small industrial zone you cross a broad and mostly treeless agricultural plain, with farming hamlets such as Scarna and Acquaviva. As you approach the base of the densely wooded Montagnola Hills you reach the attractive village of Strove, with the nearby manor house of Castel Petraia. At the village of Abbadia a Isola you should stop to see the abbey church. Eventually you arrive at the base of the little hill, clad with vineyards, on which is built the mediaeval walled village of Monteriggioni with its famous watch-towers. Overnight either within the walled village Monteriggioni or, if the very limited accommodation in the village itself is fully booked, at an agriturismo (farm guest house) 2km away along a white road. In the latter case we provide full directions on how to reach the agriturismo.
(B)
Day 6:
Monteriggioni to S. Columba. 4 hours' walk/ 11km. From Monteriggioni we walk uphill past farmland and descend through woods to the small village of Funghaia. We continue on small peaceful farm tracks through farms to the village of San Colomba. A magnificent villa, now almost derelict, is situated here. From here we can take a taxi or bus into Siena (not included in the tour price). After setting in to the hotel you will find all the famous places of this city within walking distance, with the Palazza il Campo being the famous centre of this medieaval city. There are many museums, churches, and the huge Pisan Romanesque and Gothic cathedral. You can easily get lost in the warren of streets, all arranged into areas called "Contrada," as they have done for hundreds of years and where the Sienese population gain their group loyalties and rivalries. Overnight Siena.
(B) (D)
Day 7:
Return to Pisa by train, changing at Empoli (fare around 10,000 lire/£4.50 per person, not included in tour price).
(B)
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
608 pounds sterling per person based on two people sharing twin or double room.
All tours should be paid for in pounds sterling.
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