Why this ride
From Fiesole it runs 235 km to Fiesole; allow about 3 h 57 of riding. The stops in between: Villa de Poggio a Caiano, Montecatini Terme, Piazza del Duomo and back through Montecatini Terme. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Villa Medici de Fiesole and Piazza del Duomo
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 235 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 57
- 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 25 km this is Chiantigiana Wine Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 25 km
- Named road
- Chiantigiana Wine Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Villa Medici de Fiesole
Fiesole sits on a hill above Florence, and it has looked down on the city for much longer than Florence has existed. The Etruscans founded a settlement here, and the Romans built a theatre, baths and a temple that are still visible. When the Medici came to power in the fifteenth century they chose the slope below Fiesole for a country villa, and Giovanni de' Medici, the younger son of Cosimo, commissioned Michelozzo to design one around 1450. The result, Villa Medici, is built on terraces cut into the hillside, with a loggia that opens out over a sweeping view of the Arno valley and the dome of Florence cathedral.
Read the complete Villa Medici de Fiesole write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Medici de Fiesole 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 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 63 km into the recorded legs you reach Montecatini Terme. Next is Piazza del Duomo.
4. 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
Piazza del Duomo, about halfway. Next is back through Montecatini Terme.
5. 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
back through Montecatini Terme sits at 141 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 211 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa Medici de Fiesole.
7. Villa Medici de Fiesole
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa Medici de Fiesole write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Medici de Fiesole closes the day.
Leg by leg
Villa Medici de Fiesole to Villa de Poggio a Caiano
Villa Medici de Fiesole → Villa de Poggio a Caiano is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Poggio a Caiano to Montecatini Terme
Villa de Poggio a Caiano → Montecatini Terme is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Montecatini Terme to Piazza del Duomo
Montecatini Terme → Piazza del Duomo is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Piazza del Duomo to back through Montecatini Terme
Piazza del Duomo → back through Montecatini Terme is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Montecatini Terme to back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano
back through Montecatini Terme → back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano to Villa Medici de Fiesole
back through Villa de Poggio a Caiano → Villa Medici de Fiesole is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.