Why this ride
From Cerreto Guidi it runs 218 km to Cerreto Guidi; allow about 4 h 17 of riding. The stops in between: Villa La Magia, Montecatini Terme, Villa de Poggio a Caiano and Villa de Castello.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Villa de Cerreto Guidi and Villa de Castello
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 218 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 17
- 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 18 km this is Chiantigiana Wine Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 18 km
- Named road
- Chiantigiana Wine Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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
Villa de Cerreto Guidi is where the day begins. Next is Villa La Magia.
2. 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
Villa La Magia comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Montecatini Terme.
3. Montecatini Terme
The water at Montecatini has been drunk for health since the Middle Ages, but it was in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that the town became one of the great spa resorts of Europe, with grand thermal establishments built in neoclassical, Liberty and Art Deco styles, set in parks of plane trees and pines. The Tettuccio, with its marble colonnades and frescoes, is the most famous, a temple of water where visitors drink from taps along a counter. In 2021 Montecatini became part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Site, alongside Baden-Baden, Bath, Vichy and others.
Read the complete Montecatini Terme write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 52 km into the recorded legs you reach Montecatini Terme. Next is Villa de Poggio a Caiano.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Villa de Castello.
5. 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 sits at 90 km, about halfway. Next is back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano.
6. 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 comes up about 127 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Montecatini Terme.
7. back through Montecatini Terme
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Montecatini Terme write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 165 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Montecatini Terme. Next is back through Villa La Magia.
8. 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, late in the day. Next is Villa de Cerreto Guidi.
9. Villa de Cerreto Guidi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
The route ends here after 218 km.
Leg by leg
Villa de Cerreto Guidi to Villa La Magia
Villa de Cerreto Guidi → Villa La Magia is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa La Magia to Montecatini Terme
Villa La Magia → Montecatini Terme is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Montecatini Terme to Villa de Poggio a Caiano
Montecatini Terme → Villa de Poggio a Caiano is 38 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 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Castello to back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano
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 Montecatini Terme
back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano → back through Montecatini Terme is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Montecatini Terme to back through Villa La Magia
back through Montecatini Terme → back through Villa La Magia is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa La Magia to Villa de Cerreto Guidi
back through Villa La Magia → Villa de Cerreto Guidi is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.