Historic Centre of Florence and Historic Centre of San Gimignano

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Historic Centre of Florence

   Florence is the kind of city where the problem is not finding something to look at but deciding when to stop. The historic centre sits on a bend of the Arno, a compact grid of Roman origin with the Duomo at its middle, Brunelleschi's dome rising over the roofs, the Palazzo Vecchio at the civic heart and the Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge the retreating Germans spared in 1944. The Medici bankers who ran the place for much of the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries paid for most of what you are about to see, and they were rather good at it.

   Read the complete Historic Centre of Florence write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Historic Centre of Florence is where the day begins. Next is Villa de Il Trebbio.

2. 2. 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 comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa La Magia.

3. 3. Villa La Magia

   The Medici loved the countryside, especially when it came with hunting grounds, and Villa La Magia at Quarrata was one of their country retreats at the foot of the Montalbano hills, a few kilometres south of Pistoia. Francesco I de' Medici bought it in the sixteenth century to use as a hunting lodge, and it belongs to the World Heritage inscription for the Medici villas and gardens of Tuscany. The villa is a solid rectangular building around a courtyard, more farmhouse than palace, with a park that has become home to contemporary art installations, a rather unexpected touch for a Renaissance hunting lodge.

   Read the complete Villa La Magia write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 80 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa La Magia. Next is Historic Centre of San Gimignano.

4. 4. Historic Centre of San Gimignano

   Seen from the surrounding countryside, San Gimignano looks like a medieval Manhattan: a cluster of stone towers rising from a hilltop above vineyards and olive groves in the Val d'Elsa. In its heyday, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the town had dozens of them, built by rival families as symbols of power and wealth. Fourteen survive, enough to make it one of the most recognisable towns in Italy and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1990.

   Read the complete Historic Centre of San Gimignano write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Historic Centre of San Gimignano, about halfway. Next is back through Villa La Magia.

5. 5. back through Villa La Magia

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Villa La Magia write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Villa La Magia sits at 163 km, about halfway. Next is back through Villa de Il Trebbio.

6. 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 302 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic Centre of Florence.

7. 7. Historic Centre of Florence

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Historic Centre of Florence write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Historic Centre of Florence closes the day.