Monteriggioni and the Montagnola
15. MONTERIGGIONI TO SANTA COLOMBA
(7/07)—Hello — and thanks for guiding us through two magical weeks of walking, eating and drinking. The first, two years ago, was from Certaldo to Sienna, with a memorable and delightful stay at Agriturismo La Gavina. (May we add a warm recommendation for the fairly humble bar at the foot of the Monteriggioni hill: it served wonderful barbecued suckling pig, monstrous slabs of lasagna, gorgeous salads etc at really modest prices. Other highlights included a chat with a jogger who turned out to be the mayor of Monteriggioni, and arriving there to be greeted by a hilarious double-march band display by veterans of the crack Bersaglieri regiment, complete with feathered cockades).
—Julian Soar
(7/05)—Monteriggioni to Santa Columba to La Gavina. Great walk, notes fantastic, we felt you were with us. Unfortunately no longer any buses from Siena to Monteriggioni so we had to catch train to town 2kms away & walk to the agriturismo La Gavina, which was a special experience, at 60 euros per person, gorgeous, even the fire fles danced for us. Walked 6kms to another town to access more frequent buses back to Siena along busy roads… not so good.
It was a memorable trip to Italy, which we haven’t visited for 30yrs. Thank you for the detailed and beautifully written track notes. The maps were hardly needed.
—Sue Robertson, Melbourne, Australia
[author's note] —There are still buses from Siena to Monteriggioni, usually about 20 a day. Check at the bus station in Siena. If you’d like to see the bus map before you go, there’s a nice diagram on the Tra-in site at: www.trainspa.it
—p. 212, the third line in the last paragraph says “(tag shown on map),” but it isn’t shown on the map.
16. MONTERIGGIONI RING WALK
(7/05)—We have just done the Monteriggioni Ring Walk for the third time in four months. It is true that the CAI markings have changed near the end of the walk, but the only one that we thought other readers should know about was the one that the 2005 edition indicates as CAI 102, just before the large pen of dogs belonging to the house “Commune.” It is now marked CAI 100. Also, about 100 metres after that turn there is a new (nice) picnic table beside a viewing platform (the platform is useless in June and July as it is behind some deciduous trees).
—Sandy MacDonell, Smithers, B.C.
(5/05)—The CAI markings near the end of the walk have been re-done and don’t match the ones in the book. Also, the Montauto spur trail is completely overgrown now. This walk was one we didn’t re-do and, especially without the spur option, it really isn’t one of the best in the book. If you go to Monteriggioni, the other walk option (”Monteriggioni to Santa Colomba”) is a wonderful walk, highly recommended, and we did update it.
— Pia Davis