Why this ride
A 168 km round trip from Florence - roughly 4 h 00 in the saddle. On the way it passes Villa de Poggio a Caiano, Villa de Artimino, Villa de Il Trebbio and Villa de Cafaggiolo.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Florence afternoon · Villa de Cafaggiolo
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 168 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 00
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Chiantigiana Wine Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 22 km this is Chiantigiana Wine Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 22 km
- Named road
- Chiantigiana Wine Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Florence
Florence was one of the great stops on the Mille Miglia, and it is easy to see why the race came through. Drivers arriving from Bologna had crossed the Raticosa and Futa passes in the Apennines, a long, twisting run of hairpins that tested both engines and nerves, then dropped down into the Arno valley to the city where Brunelleschi's red dome rises above a sea of terracotta roofs. The dome, completed in the fifteenth century over the cathedral, was a feat of engineering that was done without a conventional wooden frame, and it still defines the skyline.
Read the complete Florence write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Florence is where the day begins. Next is Villa de Poggio a Caiano.
2. Villa de Poggio a Caiano
Of all the Medici villas, Poggio a Caiano is the one that changed architecture. Lorenzo the Magnificent commissioned it from Giuliano da Sangallo in the 1480s, and the result was something new: a country house raised on an arcaded platform, with a portico topped by a classical pediment, the first time a temple front had been put on a private villa since antiquity. Palladio would develop the idea in the Veneto decades later. Inside, the great hall is decorated with frescoes by Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo and others, and Pontormo's lunette of Vertumnus and Pomona, with its lazy figures lounging on a wall, is one of the most charming paintings of the Renaissance. The villa is part of the UNESCO listing of the Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany.
Read the complete Villa de Poggio a Caiano write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa de Poggio a Caiano comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa de Artimino.
3. Villa de Artimino
The Medici liked to hunt, and Ferdinando I wanted somewhere to do it. In the late sixteenth century the grand duke commissioned the architect Bernardo Buontalenti to build him a hunting lodge on the hill of Artimino, west of Florence, and the result was a large, plain and strangely beautiful villa with a loggia, a terrace and a forest of chimneys. It is nicknamed the villa of the hundred chimneys, though there are fewer than that, and the stacks along the roofline give the building a rhythm that you can recognise from a long way off. It is one of the Medici villas and gardens that UNESCO listed in 2013 for the way they shaped the Italian idea of a country house.
Read the complete Villa de Artimino write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 30 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa de Artimino. Next is Villa de Il Trebbio.
4. Villa de Il Trebbio
The Medici came from the Mugello, and Il Trebbio is one of the places where you can see it. The family's rise to Florentine power in the fifteenth century began in these hills north of the city, among farms and woods where they held land long before they held banks and palaces. Il Trebbio is a fortified villa near San Piero a Sieve, redesigned for Cosimo the Elder by the architect Michelozzo, and its crenellated walls, tower and gardens mark it as a country retreat that is also, quietly, a statement of status. It is one of the Medici villas listed by UNESCO in 2013.
Read the complete Villa de Il Trebbio write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa de Il Trebbio, about halfway. Next is Villa de Cafaggiolo.
5. Villa de Cafaggiolo
In the green bowl of the Mugello, north of Florence, the Medici family kept a house long before they ruled the city. Cafaggiolo was an old family property, and around the middle of the fifteenth century Cosimo the Elder had the architect Michelozzo transform it into a fortified country villa, with battlements, a tower and a moat, a cross between a castle and a farmhouse. Lorenzo the Magnificent spent time here as a boy, and the villa became a favourite retreat for hunting and escaping the plague in the city. It is one of the Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany listed by UNESCO, and visits depend on current restoration and opening arrangements, so check before you arrive.
Read the complete Villa de Cafaggiolo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa de Cafaggiolo sits at 68 km, about halfway. Next is back through Villa de Il Trebbio.
6. back through Villa de Il Trebbio
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa de Il Trebbio write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa de Il Trebbio comes up about 89 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Villa de Artimino.
7. back through Villa de Artimino
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa de Artimino write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 140 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Villa de Artimino. Next is back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano.
8. back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa de Poggio a Caiano write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano, late in the day. Next is Florence.
9. Florence
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Florence write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 168 km.
Leg by leg
Florence to Villa de Poggio a Caiano
Florence → Villa de Poggio a Caiano is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Poggio a Caiano to Villa de Artimino
Villa de Poggio a Caiano → Villa de Artimino is 8 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Artimino to Villa de Il Trebbio
Villa de Artimino → Villa de Il Trebbio is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa de Il Trebbio to back through Villa de Artimino
back through Villa de Il Trebbio → back through Villa de Artimino is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa de Artimino to back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano
back through Villa de Artimino → back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano is 8 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano to Florence
back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano → Florence is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.