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

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Lovely views to the Montalbano ridge during the ascent from Anchiano

From Piazza Leonardo da Vinci (bus stop) in the upper part of Vinci (86m), follow Via Montalbano N, beneath the town walls and tower, to a park. Keep straight ahead (ignore the fork R for n.12) and 5min later branch R on Via Belvedere, alias n.14. After a steepish climb you leave the houses and tarmac behind, thanks to a lovely lane climbing gently N through olive groves. This is referred to as the Strada Verde (green way) and is well signed. At a road, go R – with a watchful eye for traffic – for the final metres to the casa natale (birthplace) of Leonardo at Anchiano (216m, 30min).

Not far along the road is a visitors’ car park at an intersection. Here, go straight ahead on narrow Via di Santa Lucia and puff your way up past the church to the hamlet of Santa Lucia (320m), where the loop begins. Santa Lucia offers a marvellous lookout over Vinci and the Valdarno.

From the small square-cum-parking area, branch R on n.14 and a lane. Soon, at a ceramic madonna shrine, you veer R in descent E through terraced olive groves, then into woods to a house and mill (280m). Just before the buildings, turn R on a path which immediately veers L through stands of bamboo below the house towards red-and-white markings on trees. This soon crosses the stream, Fosso delle Quercete, and climbs steadily SW on an occasionally overgrown path through abandoned terracing to emerge at a scenically sited cluster of houses. Ignore the lane to the L but take the road L the short distance uphill to Faltognano (364m, 1hr). As you approach the hamlet, the road is flanked by a high stone wall. Where this ends, branch L up to a church and a massive holm oak tree.