Sunflower Books: Landscapes of TUSCANY: WALKS AND CAR TOURS

Tuscany, 2nd edition (published 2 January 2006); updated 01/11/08

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Updates for walks and car tours (drives) in Tuscany given below supplement those provided in the guidebook. It is vital that this Update is read in conjunction with the text of the book, but note that the Update applies only to the edition stated and not to any earlier editions. (If you have an older edition of this book and want to "upgrade" to the latest edition at half price, click here.)

Information has been forwarded to us by users of the book, and Sunflower Books offers the data in good faith but cannot be held responsible for any misleading or inaccurate content in the Update. Unless indicated otherwise, what appears here has not been verified by the author or publisher, so please allow due caution when new or amended routes are suggested. Each piece of information is dated; bear in mind that some of the older observations may have since been overtaken by events or further changes. If, during your holiday, you are using the current edition of the guide and are able to provide any additional updating to add to this page, we will be pleased to hear from you. Please send information, preferably in hard copy, by post, to Sunflower Books, PO Box 115, Exeter EX2 6YU (or if you prefer, by e-mail, to mail@sunflowerbooks.co.uk).

Walk 2: page 48 2nd para: 'Turn left on this unsealed road for one minute. At a Y-junction,fork right and continue-----' I attempted this walk on 12th May 2008. Please note that as you fork right you are confronted with a new looking, 8 foot locked green double gates announcing that the route is private with no way through. I continued up the unsealed road for a few minutes to check for another right fork without success. I could see the intended route around the bowl of the valley so am sure I was at the correct location. We had to walk back to Maiano and then by roads to Settignano. (User, 6/08) [ The author replies: To be able to continue the walk in spite of the gates across the path (page 48, 2nd para): The next part of the walk is to Vincigliata. Continue down the unsealed road to the hamlet of Maiano. Just past the restaurant on the left a track joins the road at a very sharp angle. Turn left down towards the stream ( this is in fact part of the return route), cross the stream, pass a farm on the right and go on up to the paved road. Go left here and on up to Vinciliata. Just before the castle a track leads off right: take this under the walls (this track is marked in black on the map in the book); It then joins CAI 1 around the restored farm and chapel (bottom of page 48). Author, 6/08].

Walk 7: Here is an alternative return route for this walk - more gentle, longer, but missing out the circuit of Monte Procinto (which you could do on the way up). From the Refugio Alto Matanna retrace your steps to just above the fencing of the Refugio grounds. Leave the original path to go right onto path 109, CAI-marked but not numbered immediately, around the back of Monte Nona. This path climbs and contours, soon through woodlands. After about half an hour from the Refuge there is a boundary fence across the path (2h15min), but there is access for walkers. At 2h50min you meet a junction of paths: yours is the first left, CAI route 8: it takes you over the ridge, to begin your zigzagging descent down a stone mule track. When you CAI route 6 (3h05min), follow it to the left ­ it is your path back to your car, though there are several junctions on the way. At the junction with CAI 8 (3h10min), go left; at the junction with CAI 121 (3h13min) go right; at the junction with CAI 5bis (3h15min) go right. This is where you meet the path for the original descent, CAI 6, signposted for Stazzema. All these routes are shown on the map, but not highlights in colour. (Author)

Walk 21: The overall height change from highest to lowest points is over 900 feet (as shown on the book's map). This means that anyone going in the reverse direction is going to have a rude surprise (as did we) and it is WRONG to say that if you walk one way, and there's no bus, "it is no hardship to walk back". (User, 11/08)

Walk 22: Start the walk....thermal springs. Facing the excavations, you can see steps leading down on the left side. These lead to a network of paths which descend the left hand side of the excavations. Follow a route down, coming out onto a wider track, parallel to the river, at the bottom. Go right along this track...... DERELICT QUARRY BUILDINGS [25 mins] , keep right on the main trail, heading up and over rocks , into the woods. This path ascends, meandering as it does so, for about ten minutes. There are several branches off the track: ignore these, following the main track up. Follow a path along the edge of a field. The muddy track winds past a farmhouse, where there is a junction off to the right: keep left here. Beyond more fields and woods..... (User, 6/08) + In paragraph 3, it is crucial that after passing the derelict buildings (last one is to your left), walkers do NOT, about 80 yards further on, head rightwards up the hill following the 4x4 track that has been bulldozed. Rather, they should carry on just gently leftwards, which takes them down a slope for a while, along a
narrower path - not recently used as a vehicle track. Waymarking is not good around this point, but we began a small cairn at the junction. (User, 11/08)

Walk 23: Start the walk in Castiglione d'Orcia [there are a number of small carparks]. Walk on the main road [SS323] towards Siena, to the ERG petrol station. Turn left onto VIA DELLA ROCCA and walk through the village. Ascend the hill at the far end of the village up to a restaurant with a bakery. Turn right just before the restaurant/bakery, and follow the path, which leads round to the hamlet of Rocca d'Orcia........ Now return to PODERE MULINA [Unsigned, but it is the last house you passed, with a swimming pool] and walk back about 200 yards past the farm. Ignore three tracks which rise up the hill between the vineyards, before taking the track by the tree with the Amiata Senese waymarking. The route undulates...... We followed this walk to the T junction at 1h 27mins and were greeted by 5 angry dogs coming out of a nearby house, forcing us to turn back. (User, 6/08) + On the same day this was received, we also had an update from the author: The path from Podere Mulina is now very overgrown but a better route is waymarked (see page 123, last paragraph) and substitute:
"Now return to Podere Mulina ( the last farm you passed), and take the path on a ledge heading off to the right (with the Amiata Senese way markings), just above a track to farm buildings. The route undulates more or less parallel with the river, although not in sight of it. It is a wonderfully quiet, "away from it all" woodland route. At the time of writing it was well waymarked. At the end of the ledge the path turns uphill, but in a short distance the path turns right and enters the woods. There are short waymarking posts in the ground to show the way. Take this path for about 6 minutes until it meets a track running uphill. Turn right on the track (initially downhill). This is the track noted in text at the 1h40min-point; keep on this track for at least 30 minutes, until you meet the track on the bend (at 2h20min mark in the book)." This route is simpler and quicker, but you miss the hill with the picnic spot. The track at 1h40min is marked in black on the map. If you want a shorter walk, turn left uphill here to Roccia d'Orcia. There is a junction above the first farm is a junction, where you take the right-hand track to pass a second farm, then walk on to the hamlet. (Author, 6/08)