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

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Close by stands the mock medieval castle of Vincigliata, faithfully reconstructed in the mid 1800s on 11th-century ruins by eccentric English gentleman Mr Temple Leader. Illustrious guests included Queen Victoria and Henry James, who wrote: ‘The massive pastiche of Vincigliata has no superficial use, but, even if it were less complete, less successful, less brilliant, I should feel a reflective kindness for it.’

Stretching out to the north-west of Florence and dominating Valdarno is the low line of hills of the Montalbano ridge (nothing to do with the lovable anti-Mafia Sicilian detective). Clothed in olive groves, vineyards and woodland, Montalbano boasts some colourful history. Standout characters are Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci, who was born on its southern reaches, and the Florentine Medici clan, who had classical villas constructed in the east above Prato. Tiny walled Artimino stands on a hilltop overlooking a wide bend in the River Arno. An elevated ridge links the village with the splendid Villa Ferdinanda, a World Heritage Site. Completed in 1594 as a country residence for Grand Duke Ferdinand I, it was dubbed the cento camini (hundred chimneys), although it has but 66 in actual fact. The villa occupies the site of an Etruscan settlement, its cemetery/necropolis on the hillside below. Walk 2 is a splendid route linking all the sites.