Читать книгу Walking in Tuscany. 43 walks including Val d'Orcia, San Gimignano and the Isle of Elba онлайн

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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 into Florentine monuments! Fiesole began to return to fashion once again in the late 1700s, when wealthy expats moved in. Nowadays, Monte Ceceri is a pleasant wooded park; it is visited in Walk 1, which traverses the gentle hills to Settignano.