Why this ride
A 177 km round trip from Scarperia - roughly 4 h 14 in the saddle. The stops in between: Villa de la Petraia, Villa de Poggio a Caiano, Villa de Castello and Villa de Artimino.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Villa de Cafaggiolo and Villa de Artimino
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 177 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 14
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 23 km this is Chiantigiana Wine Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 23 km
- Named road
- Chiantigiana Wine Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Villa de la Petraia.
2. Villa de la Petraia
La Petraia stands on the slope above Castello, on the north-western edge of Florence, and the first thing you notice is its tower, a leftover from the medieval fortress that stood here before the Medici made it a villa. Ferdinando de' Medici bought it in the 1560s and had Buontalenti reshape it, keeping the tower and building around it, so that the house looks like a small castle that learned manners. The garden below is laid out in terraces, with a fountain topped by a Venus wringing out her hair, a famous work by Giambologna.
Read the complete Villa de la Petraia write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa de la Petraia comes up 20 km in. Next is Villa de Poggio a Caiano.
3. 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
41 km in you reach Villa de Poggio a Caiano. Next is Villa de Castello.
4. Villa de Castello
The Villa di Castello stands on the north-western edge of Florence, in the flat land below Monte Morello, and the huge city has grown right up to its gates. Sesto Fiorentino, a town of forty-five thousand people, is three kilometres away, and the centre of Florence a few more. The villa is one of the Medici villas that UNESCO inscribed in 2013, and it is an unusual one, because the garden is the main attraction and the house inside is plain.
Read the complete Villa de Castello write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa de Castello, about halfway. Next is Villa de Artimino.
5. 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
Villa de Artimino sits at 82 km, about halfway. Next is back through Villa de Castello.
6. back through Villa de Castello
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa de Castello 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 Castello comes up 102 km in. Next is back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano.
7. 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
122 km in you reach back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano. Next is back through Villa de la Petraia.
8. back through Villa de la Petraia
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa de la Petraia 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 la Petraia, late in the day. Next is Villa de Cafaggiolo.
9. Villa de Cafaggiolo
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
The route ends here after 177 km.
Leg by leg
Villa de Cafaggiolo to Villa de la Petraia
Villa de Cafaggiolo → Villa de la Petraia is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de la Petraia to Villa de Poggio a Caiano
Villa de la Petraia → Villa de Poggio a Caiano is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Poggio a Caiano to Villa de Castello
Villa de Poggio a Caiano → Villa de Castello is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Castello to Villa de Artimino
Villa de Castello → Villa de Artimino is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Artimino to back through Villa de Castello
Villa de Artimino → back through Villa de Castello is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa de Castello to back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano
back through Villa de Castello → back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano to back through Villa de la Petraia
back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano → back through Villa de la Petraia is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa de la Petraia to Villa de Cafaggiolo
back through Villa de la Petraia → Villa de Cafaggiolo is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.