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

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Chapter 7, The Crete and Val d’Orcia, reveals gorgeous postcard scenery and walks lined with cypresses.

Chapter 8, Elba and the Tyrrhenian coast, describes routes on the divine island of Elba and the adjacent coast, with their heritage of industrial archaeology.

Chapter 9, The Maremma coast and hinterland, embraces an exciting pristine coastal park then quiet inland villages joined by ancient Etruscan ways. Magical places.

See Appendix E for further reading material on Tuscany, including guides to trekking and climbing as well as more general literature.

Plants and flowers

The marvellous array of unusual trees and flowering plants is reason alone for a visit to Tuscany. Of the broad range of vegetation zones, the highest (at around 2000m) verges on alpine, with gentians, thrift and gorgeous lilies. Below are hills covered with woods of conifer and deciduous beech, which is synonymous with the Apennines; delicate cyclamens are a constant presence here too.

At lower altitudes, conifers and beech give way to woodland populated by typical Mediterranean trees such as the evergreen holm oak, or ilex, with its bushy foliage of glossy dark green oval leaves, a great favourite with charcoal burners. It is often in the company of the mastic tree, or lentisc, which has spear-shaped leaves and red-black berries; its resin was the world’s first chewing gum. Cork oaks are also widespread. Their thick fissured bark, impervious to fire, was used by the ancient Romans for sandals and for floaters on fishing nets; nowadays it is stripped for bottle corks every seven years, leaving the bare trunk bright red.