Beach of Collelungo - Maremma Natural Park
Since 1975 the South of Tuscany is a natural protected area called “Parco Regionale della Maremma”.
This part of the region is “crowded” with history, starting from etruscan and roman age when people who lieved there tried to transform that marshland, reach of stale morass and very insane for men and animals in a cultivable land.
The Park includes 25 acres most covered of maquis and ancient pinewoods, Read the rest of this entry »
Merry Christmas!!!
Dec 25
TuscanHiking and FantaTrek's Christmas Card for All the Blogvisitors
Tuscany is a region where lots of important Saints lived. For this reason around this territory, there are lots of local pilgrims route and lots of topic events take place here.
The routes usually link a net of places with a particular theme or regarding the life to a Saint.
Parish Church of Pancole on the Via Francigena
The most known of them is the Tuscany part of the “Monginevro to Rome”, in Italy this route is called “Via Francigena” or “Via Romea”. This itinerary link Canterbury to Rome and, for the most enterprising pilgrims, go on till Jerusalem. It is the same way that the Archbishop of Canterbury followed in the year 969 to come back from Rome after he got the investiture from the Pope.
In Tuscany there are 220 Miles of this route (the full way is about 650 Miles), usually divided in stages of about 15 Miles.
The trip starts at the Cisa Passo, cross the Apennines, touch two of the most important town of Tuscany (Lucca and Siena), and go on till the South of Tuscany till Acquapendente before entering in Lazio towards the Bolsena lake and finally to Rome.
Who followed the Saint James Route (Camino di Santiago) has to be advice that Italy, and Tuscany, is not so organized. The pilgrim has to match with daily problems instead of soul questions. There are so few services, that you can’t decide day by day where to sleep and where to eat or where you can buy any necessities because there are long parts of the itinerary without any confort.
I don’t want to discourage anybody, but it is very important that if you decide to trek on the Via Francigena you must be informed and prepaired about the logistic difficoulties that you will find.
Before starting this venture get informed! by books, by blogs, by websites, contacting the tourists offices and so on.
The other way to follow this route is with an organized tour. This year (2011) I will start one in October; I will describe the steps from Lucca to Siena in one of my next posts, so someone can take them as a starting point.
Italian Pilgrims Towards the Pancole Sanctuary
Mugello is great green part of Tuscany. Crowned from the Appenine mountains, Mugello starts next to Florence and go on with coltured fields, woods, torrents, rivers and the Bilancino lake.
Waterfall in Mugello
The place that I suggest with this post is a nice waterfall that you can reach by a medium difficoult hike Read the rest of this entry »
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!
Dec 31
Everywhere you are, we wish you a marvellous
2011
rich of joy, serenity and peace.
Happy New Year from Tuscanhiking. (In The photo friends from the Santiago di Compostela route)
and
help us to keep environment safe
Chestnut Tree
Merry Christmas!!!!
Dec 25
The Gherardesca Garden after the snowfall of December 17, 2010
To whish to the readers Merry Christmas, this year I choose an image from the last snowfall in Florence and Tuscany.
The Gherardesca Garden own to the Four Season Hotel in Florence, but only two times a year is open to the public…. so we can consider it quites a “secret” marvellous garden.
I share with you this photo.
Just in the middle of the National Park of The Casentino’s Forests(1), there are the imposing mass of the buildings of the Monastery and the Hermitage of the Camaldolesi Monks .
The Monastery is dedicated to the encounters, so there are some place to rest, next to the buildings there are some pic-nic tables, there is a church and a must-to-visit pharmacy Read the rest of this entry »
BIKING!!! Another way to taste Tuscany: biking along a river with no difficoulties, no weariness and no stress.
The itinerary that I suggest with this post is a one day to four days biking along the “Canale Maestro della Chiana” that is a canal used ever since the year 1000 (yes 1000 years ago) to drain the marsh. The first part of the itinerary is along the shores of two lakes: the Chiusi and the Montepulciano’s ones, the path is surrounded by short and smooth hills. They are all green, filling up with farms with their field and in this season (Autumn) they are a puzzle of all-colored square pieces: the silver of the olive trees, the red of the leafs of the vineyards, the golden yellow of the culture of grain, the brown of the soil… Read the rest of this entry »
Apuane Alps is the chain that divide the coast of Versilia from the Garfagnana Region (a part of Tuscany). Since centuries people caves from the Apuane Alps the white marble fomous all over the world, used also by Michelangelo Buonarroti for his best sculptures.
A network of tracks wrapped up these mountains, the higher of Tuscany. Every path with its charm and peculiarity. A few days ago I decided with some friends to follow the Carcaraia ones. Read the rest of this entry »
