General Comments
(05/2009)—My wife and I used your original edition to explore the Chianti region (we were based in Radda) in 2000, and just came back this month from using your revised edition to explore southern Tuscany (we were based in Pienza).
We belatedly realized that your restaurant recommendations are also first rate. Cavolo Nero Trattoria (Florence) is still excellent. It may have gone a bit more upscale since your revised edition (prices still reasonable, food outstanding - our hotel was very curious as to how we knew about it).
Your book vastly improved our trips to Tuscany. Nothing compares with being able to “access” all that beautiful scenery, instead of just staring at it from a hilltop town or the autostrada.
- Andy Lelling and Dana Gershengorn
(02/08)—The Sita bus line website is now www.sitabus.it and not www.sita-on-line.
—Ralph Domino
8. TWO WALKS FROM FIESOLE
—Fiesole to Ponte a Mensola
(4/05) —My wife and I took the walk from Fiesole to Ponte a Mensola (pp. 136-139 in the Penguin 2005 ed.) a week ago (March 15, 2005). The walk was wonderful! But there are a couple of minor changes:
At “D” by the bus stop (not STAM but ATAF) there are no longer any recycling containers - but the path is still there.
A bigger change: In the next paragraph - “Pass through a farm with horses and olive groves . . .” - there are no more horses. Worse still, there are a few “Proprieta Privata” signs. It was *very* unclear where to enter the property to keep on the downhill path. Since we didn’t want to violate any “Private Property” signs, we walked into an olive grove just before the house (no fence) where there wasn’t a sign. We were more than a little nervous, but no one stopped us. (In fact, the house is being renovated and there seemed to be only builders there.)
We picked up a very narrow foot path after a few yards. After a short distance, we found ourselves parallel to a road or driveway on the property that ran parallel to our course through the olive grove, and that had had a “Private Property” sign on it at the top (I think). We jumped down onto that, and from there we were fine. The most useful phrase in the book was, “continuing gently downhill all this time.” That kept us in the right direction. A good marker is a 25-foot high concrete transformer (? - something electrical) bunker at the bottom of this hill. Walkers can just head for that.
The castle of Vincigliata is now open to the public!!! It’s a wonder. The gate is wide open and has an Italian-only sign saying don’t park in the courtyard, and don’t mind the dogs - they bark but they don’t bite (true - they even stop barking very quickly if you say “Ciao”). We were amazed that everything was open - no one was around - and we were free to walk anywhere we wanted on the grounds. I have found a web site that suggests that it might be available as a bed and breakfast (as well as for weddings, receptions, etc.)
Last point: “Pick up red and white markings again at a farm house . . .” This is not clear (but neither is my memory). What I can remember is that the path comes to a T-junction at a paved road or driveway. If you take the right fork you come very quickly to some sort of home or shelter (”asilo” but it did not seem like an “asylum” (as in “insane”). There are no markings this way, and in fact it was the wrong way. We retraced our route and took the left fork - there are no red and white markings that are visible right away, but eventually you pick them up and everything is fine after that.
Very last item: We might be considered ‘old’ (55-60 years) - but the whole walk took us 3½ hours (not counting the stop off at Vincigliata or the bus ride at the end), and the wait for the #10 bus seemed very long (20-30 minutes), and the ride itself into Florence took quite a while (another 30 minutes?). People should leave more than 2½ hours for the total experience. Also the bus stop is not a “STAM” bus stop, just an ordinary Florence ATAF bus stop.
Once again, thanks for the book. This walk was a highlight of our 10-day stop in Fiesole/Florence!!
—Len Bick (Fiesole to Maiano)
9. MADONNA DEL SASSO RING WALK
10. VALLOMBROSA/SALTINO RING WALK