Avoid walking in brand new footwear as it may cause blisters; on the contrary, leave those worn-out shoes in the shed as they will be unsafe on slippery terrain. Sandals are totally unsuitable for walking in Tuscany.
Check local weather forecasts and don’t start out if storms are forecast. Paths can get slippery if wet, and hills and mountainsides are prone to rockfalls.
Carry weatherproof gear at all times, along with food and plenty of drinking water.
In electrical storms, don’t shelter under trees or rock overhangs and keep away from metallic fixtures.
DO NOT rely on your mobile phone as there may not be any signal.
Carry any rubbish away with you. Even organic waste such as apple cores is best not left lying around as it can upset the diet of animals and birds and spoil things for other visitors.
Close all stock gates behind you promptly and securely.
Be considerate when making a toilet stop and don’t leave unsightly paper lying around. Remember that abandoned huts and rock overhangs could serve as life-saving shelter for someone else. It’s a good idea to carry a supply of small plastic doggy bags to deal with paper and tissues.
Make an effort to learn basic greetings in Italian: buongiorno (good morning), buona sera (good evening), arrivederci (goodbye) and grazie (thank you).
Lastly, don’t leave your common sense at home.
Emergencies
For medical matters, EU residents need a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). Holders are entitled to free or subsidised emergency treatment in Italy, which has an excellent national health service. UK residents can apply online at www.dh.gov.uk. (If these arrangements change during the life of this book, details will be online at www.cicerone.co.uk in the ‘Updates’ section for this book.) Australia has a similar reciprocal agreement – see www.medicareaustralia.gov.au. Other nationalities need to take out suitable cover. In addition, travel insurance to cover a walking holiday is strongly recommended, as costs for rescue and repatriation can be hefty.
The following may be of help, should problems arise. No charge is made for emergency numbers:
tel 112 for general emergency calls
tel 113 for police (polizia)
tel 118 for health-related emergencies, including ambulance (ambulanza) and mountain rescue (soccorso alpino)
tel 1515 to report forest fires.
‘Help!’ in Italian is Aiuto!, pronounced ‘eye-you-tow’. Pericolo is ‘danger’.
Using this guide
This guidebook contains a selection of 43 walking routes across Tuscany. Visitors wishing to do more – and the choice is huge – should enquire at tourist offices; most of their websites have suggestions as well as offering guided walks.
A steep path winds up from the sanctuary (Walk 16)
The walks in this guide are suitable for a wide range of walkers. There is something for everyone, from easy leisurely strolls for beginners to strenuous climbs for experienced walkers up panoramic peaks. Each route has been designed to fit into a single day. See the route summary table in Appendix A for an overview of the essential data for each walk, including distance (km), ascent/descent (m), grade and approximate walking time.
Many of the routes (but by no means all) are waymarked with official CAI (Club Alpino Italiano/Italian Alpine Club) red-and-white paint stripes together with an identifying number. These are found along the way on prominent stones, trees, walls and rock faces.
CAI waymarking
Each walk description is preceded by an information box containing the following essential data:
Start and Finish.
Distance – in kilometres.
Ascent and Descent – This is important information, as height gain and loss are an indication of effort required and need to be taken into account alongside difficulty and distance when planning the day. Generally speaking, a walker of average fitness will cover 300m in ascent in one hour.
Difficulty – Each walk has been classified by the following grades, although adverse weather conditions will make any route more arduous:Grade 1: an easy route on clear tracks and paths, suitable for beginners. (This corresponds approximately to CAI Grade T: turistico.)Grade 2: paths across hill and mountain terrain, with lots of ups and downs. A reasonable level of fitness is preferable. (This corresponds approximately to CAI Grade E: escursionistico.)Grade 3: strenuous, and entailing some exposed stretches and possibly prolonged climbing. Experience and extra care are recommended. (This corresponds approximately to CAI Grade EE: escursionistico esperto.)
Walking time – This does not include pauses for picnics, admiring views, photos or nature stops. The ‘skeleton’ times given are a guide, as every walker goes at a different pace and makes an unpredictable number of stops along the way. As a general rule, double the times when planning your day.
Map – sheet numbers of relevant maps.
Access – details of how to get to the start of the walk, whether by public transport, on foot or by car.
Chiusure occupies a rather precarious position (Walk 26)
Lovely open terrain below Poggio Barbari (Walk 18)
In the walk descriptions, useful landmarks that appear on the map are given in bold. Altitude in metres above sea level is given as ‘m’, not to be confused with minutes, abbreviated as ‘min’. Approximate timings for sections of each walk are shown in brackets, in hours and minutes.
Finally, see Appendix B for an Italian–English glossary, which lists useful expressions and key vocabulary, including some common words that you might come across on maps, signposts or in tourist literature.
THE WALKS
The walk leaving Monteriggioni (Walk 23)
1 THE ENVIRONS OF FLORENCE
Vineyards line the way back towards Artimino, visible in the distance (Walk 2)
The hills around the bustling Tuscan capital offer a wealth of walking, worlds away from the chaos of the traffic-choked city. Fiesole dominates Florence from its commanding position high over the Arno and Mugnone rivers. It is a cool peaceful spot surrounded by olive groves. The Etruscans put it on the map in the 7th century BC and it came under Roman rule four centuries later. Its heyday was undeniably the Renaissance, as borne out by elegant palaces, villas and gardens.
A curiosity: during that period, a blue-grey sandstone known as pietra serena was extracted from the quarries on adjacent Monte Ceceri; it has been estimated that half the mountain was incorporated