Pecorino cheese comes in a range of flavours
Bakeries also have treats suitable for rucksack transport: delicious heavy-duty spicy biscuits such as cavallucci and ricciarelli, or the omnipresent Siena speciality panforte, crammed with dried and candied fruit, honey and nuts.
In restaurants, a good rule is to be adventurous and enquire as to the day’s special: Che cosa avete oggi? Two memorable antipasti (starters) are bruschetta and crostini. The former are thick toasted slices of bread with a hint of garlic, a dribbling of olive oil and some fresh tomato, while the latter are morsels of toast smothered with home-made pâté, sausage, mushroom spread or whatever takes the cook’s fancy that day.
One topping might be fragrant nutty tartufi, namely truffles or earthnuts, edible tuberous fungi that grow underground. They are grated and sprinkled over pasta also such as pici, thick home-made spaghetti. As soups go, you’ll come across acqua cotta, literally ‘cooked water’, a simple tasty brew made with a variety of vegetables, while caciucco consists mostly of fish. Despite its uninviting name, pappa al pomodoro is delicious; this simple thick soup is made with leftover bread, fragrant tomato and basil. Olive oil, preferably the cold pressed extra vergine variety, reigns over the lot.
Game meats such as cinghiale (wild boar) are widespread and found in pasta sauces or hearty stews, an alternative to the legendary oversized Florentine T-bone steak. Tender coniglio (rabbit) features on menus in country trattorias, as does buglione, a deliciously rich lamb and tomato stew. Tegamata di cinta senese translates as a mouth-watering casserole of Siena pork cooked in wine.
Rabbit and fried artichokes are on the menu today
Vegetables are usually served as a side dish (contorno) and will be strictly seasonal. Carciofi fritti are tiny purple artichokes battered and fried, and flavoursome local greens include cicoria (bitter chicory).
Those who make it to dessert may opt for panna cotta, literally ‘cooked cream’, a divine blancmange-type sweet flavoured with caramel or fruit. For a memorable after-dinner treat you can’t go wrong with a handful of cantucci, crisp almond biscuits dunked unabashedly in a glass of sweet, rich, amber-coloured Vin Santo.
And so onto the subject of bottled treats. It’s a tough task, nigh on impossible, trying to sum up the wines of Tuscany in a paragraph…suffice it to say that your taste buds will be extremely happy. A few key place names conjure up wondrous red elixirs: Montalcino, Montepulciano and Chianti (see Chapter 5 for more on this one). Following are brief notes on several of the special names from areas covered in this guide. It’s especially exciting to be taking a walk through the vineyards that produce these memorable wines.
The full-bodied red Brunello di Montalcino (aged in oak barrels for at least four years) must head the list, while those on a budget can enjoy the younger Rosso di Montalcino made with the same grapes. Another one to look out for and hailing from neighbouring hills is the intense Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, first made back in AD790. The Maremma hinterland produces a robust red, Morellino di Scansano, while the island of Elba does a Rosso and a Bianco, which can be a little fizzy but never sweet.
The southern reaches of Tuscany are home to some memorable white wines. A delicate crisp white from tufa country is the Bianco di Pitigliano, while San Gimignano’s superb dry Vernaccia is another: an earlier version of it, presumably fuller-bodied, reputedly prompted Michelangelo to say that it ‘kisses, licks, bites, thrusts and stings’.
What to take
Clothing will depend on the season and personal preferences. In spring and summer, T-shirt, shorts and sun hat are perfect, while winter will mean layers of wool or fleeces with the addition of a windproof jacket, hat and gloves. Long trousers are recommended for potentially overgrown routes. The following checklist might be useful:
Lightweight trekking boots with ankle support or a sturdy pair of trainers with good grip and thick soles to protect your feet from loose stones. Boots are essential on the rocky ground in the Apennines, the Casentino forests, the island of Elba and the Maremma Park. They also come in handy in potentially muddy places like the sunken roadways around Pitigliano.
Day pack. (Shoulder bags or hand-held bags are not a good idea as it is safer to have hands and arms free on the trail.)
Rain gear.
Water bottle.
Swimming costume for coastal routes.
A compass for following maps and identifying landmarks.
Whistle, torch or headlamp (with new batteries) for attracting help in an emergency. (Do not rely on your mobile phone as there is often no signal in outlying places.)
Trekking poles for the mountainous routes; they also come in handy for discouraging overenthusiastic watchdogs.
Binoculars.
Sunglasses, hat and cream.
Basic first-aid kit, including plasters and insect repellent (Italian mosquitoes seem to be especially fond of British skin).
Snack food such as muesli bars or biscuits to tide you over if a walk becomes longer than planned.
The shrine at the fork for Via Poggilarca (Walk 2)
Maps
Topographic maps are provided with each route described in this guide. However, commercial maps showing a greater context and landmarks are also important.
Kompass have put out two useful overlapping collections of 1:50,000 maps for Tuscany. The three-map set n.2439 Toscana Nord takes in the Apennines, Alpi Apuane and the Florence area. The four-map set n.2440 Toscana (‘Heart of Tuscany’) covers Chianti, the Val d’Elsa west of Siena, the Crete, Val d’Orcia and the Tyrrhenian coast.
A handful of more detailed 1:25,000 maps are also available: Edizioni Multigraphic (www.edizionimultigraphic.it) does the Alpi Apuane and the Maremma, L’escursionista (www.escursionista.it) does the island of Elba, and SELCA maps are good for the Apennines and the Foreste Casentinesi.
See individual walks for the sheet numbers of relevant maps. All of these maps are on sale locally in Tuscany. Well-stocked overseas maps suppliers include The Map Shop (www.themapshop.co.uk) and Stanfords stores (www.stanfords.co.uk) in the UK, and Omnimap (www.omnimap.com) in the US; otherwise order from the online Florence bookshop Stella Alpina (www.stella-alpina.com).
DOS AND DON’TS
Don’t set out late on walks even if they’re short. Always have extra time up your sleeve to allow for detours and wrong turns.
Tell your accommodation where you’ll be walking, as a safety precaution.
Find time to get in decent shape before setting out on your holiday, as it will maximise enjoyment. You will appreciate the wonderful scenery better if you’re not tired, and healthy walkers react better in an emergency.
Don’t be overly ambitious – choose itineraries suited to your capacity. Read the walk description before setting out.
Stick with your companions and don’t lose sight of them. Remember that the progress