Why this ride
From Florence it runs 99 km to Florence; allow about 2 h 12 of riding. It goes by way of Villa de Poggio a Caiano, Villa de Cerreto Guidi and back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Historic Centre of Florence and Villa de Cerreto Guidi
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 99 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 12
- 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. 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 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 Cerreto Guidi.
3. Villa de Cerreto Guidi
Cosimo I de' Medici liked to hunt, and in the 1560s he had a villa built on a hilltop at Cerreto Guidi, on the edge of the marshes and woods west of Florence, where the game was plentiful. From the outside it is austere, a solid block of stone facing a square, but the approach is spectacular: a pair of great brick ramps, known as the Medici bridges, zigzag up to the entrance. The villa is part of the UNESCO listing of the Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany, and it holds a dark legend. Cosimo's daughter Isabella died here in 1576, and the story goes that she was murdered by her husband, Paolo Giordano Orsini, for her alleged infidelity. Whether it is true or not, it is told to every visitor.
Read the complete Villa de Cerreto Guidi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 49 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa de Cerreto Guidi. Next is back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano.
4. 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 Historic Centre of Florence.
5. 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
Back at Historic Centre of Florence. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Historic Centre of Florence to Villa de Poggio a Caiano
Historic Centre of 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 Cerreto Guidi
Villa de Poggio a Caiano → Villa de Cerreto Guidi is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Cerreto Guidi to back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano
Villa de Cerreto Guidi → back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano to Historic Centre of Florence
back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano → Historic Centre of Florence is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.