Why this ride
A 292 km round trip from Caldine - roughly 5 h in the saddle. The stops in between: Historic Centre of San Gimignano, Piazza del Duomo and back through Historic Centre of San Gimignano. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Jardin de Pratolino and Piazza del Duomo
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 292 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 23
- 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 66 km this is Chiantigiana Wine Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 66 km
- Named road
- Chiantigiana Wine Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Jardin de Pratolino
Pratolino is a hill north of Florence where, in the 1570s, Francesco I de' Medici decided to build a pleasure ground that would amaze Europe. He commissioned Bernardo Buontalenti, an architect, engineer and theatre designer, and the result was a park of grottoes, fountains, water-powered automata and hidden jets, which wrecked visitors' clothes and delighted them in equal measure. The great survivor is the Appennine, a gigantic statue by Giambologna, about ten metres high, crouched beside a pond, a stone giant with caves inside his body and a face emerging from rock and moss. It is one of the strangest and most impressive garden sculptures in Italy.
Read the complete Jardin de Pratolino write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jardin de Pratolino is where the day begins. Next is Historic Centre of San Gimignano.
2. 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 comes up about 66 km into the recorded legs. Next is Piazza del Duomo.
3. Piazza del Duomo
Nothing prepares you for that first glimpse through the gateway. A wide green lawn, and set on it like ornaments on a cloth, the white marble cathedral, the round baptistery, the cemetery cloister of the Camposanto, and of course the bell tower, leaning at an angle that looks wrong no matter how many photographs you have seen. The Piazza del Duomo in Pisa, also called the Field of Miracles, was one of the first places in Italy to be listed by UNESCO, back in 1987.
Read the complete Piazza del Duomo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 145 km into the recorded legs you reach Piazza del Duomo. Next is back through Historic Centre of San Gimignano.
4. back through Historic Centre of San Gimignano
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Historic Centre of San Gimignano, late in the day. Next is Jardin de Pratolino.
5. Jardin de Pratolino
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jardin de Pratolino write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Jardin de Pratolino. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Jardin de Pratolino to Historic Centre of San Gimignano
Jardin de Pratolino → Historic Centre of San Gimignano is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of San Gimignano to Piazza del Duomo
Historic Centre of San Gimignano → Piazza del Duomo is 79 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Piazza del Duomo to back through Historic Centre of San Gimignano
Piazza del Duomo → back through Historic Centre of San Gimignano is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Historic Centre of San Gimignano to Jardin de Pratolino
back through Historic Centre of San Gimignano → Jardin de Pratolino is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.