🟡 St. Francis Walk

It is a route that goes from the historic center to the church of San Francesco at the top of the hill.

Along the way you can admire splendid views of the Tuscan countryside or walk in the woods.

The walk is quite steep but offers the opportunity to immerse yourself in nature and enjoy the tranquility and beauty of the surrounding landscape.

Once you arrive at the church of San Francesco, you can visit the interior of the church and enjoy a breathtaking view of Florence and the surrounding hills.

🟡Monte Ceceri Park

Monte Ceceri is 415 meters high and from up there you can enjoy views of Florence and the hills of the Arno valley.

It has three entrances to the trails A Prato ai Pini B Via degli Scalpellini C Via Doccia

We recommend entrance A which is located 200 meters from the campsite.

The park has CAI paths and is under municipal jurisdiction.

📌Monte Ceceri and Leonardo

He turned the Dream into Reality.

Monte Ceceri Park is known for being the place chosen by Leonardo da Vinci in 1506 to test his Flying Machine, a pioneering project in the field of aviation.

📌The Fiesole quarries

They were exploited until the beginning of the twentieth century, they are famous for their sandstone, the so-called "pietra fiesolana", widely used by sculptors since the fifteenth century. Mentioned by Benvenuto Cellini and Giorgio Vasari, the pietra fiesolana was perfectly suited for architectural and monumental works, but also for more or less refined elements of civil, sacred and urban furniture, so much so that it pushed the Medici government to implement a severe policy of control of exploitation. Between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in fact, the quarries of the Fiesole area were "banned" and reserved exclusively for Florentine monuments. Among the last works made with the pietra fiesolana, we remember the columns of the atrium, the staircase and other architectural elements of the National Central Library of Florence. Today a park has been set up in the area, whose paths show the fundamental types of the ancient quarries: the tagliata, open-air, and the latomia or cava ficcata, artificial caves with their own support feet.

🟡The path of Stilicho

📌Fiesole -Olmo, Olmo-Fiesole to be covered on foot or by MTB.

Departure from the campsite, Itinerary Time 6.30 approximately 20 Km difficulty E.

The Bargellino (252m) - Santa Margherita a Saletta (400 m) - Sant'Ilario a Montereggi (441m) - Olmo (444 m) - L'Alberaccio (543 m) - Monte Fanna (615 m) - Monte Muscoli (566 m) - Fiesole (295 m).

Along the path you come across two ancient churches, Sant'Ilario in Montereggi and Santa Margherita in Saletta.

🟡Mount Senario

📌Nature trail lasting about half a day, the walk takes 2.30 minutes.

1) Departure by car from the campsite to the main road on the right towards Olmo, following the entire length of Via dei Bosconi.

2) Once you reach the crossroads, continue straight towards Bivigliano.

3) after about 3 km turn right, a sharp bend with signs for Convento Monte Senario and continue.

4) The road ends with the beginning of the pedestrian street that will take you to the Convent, there are large parking lots. Now begins our Trekking, let's say a nice walk the route is simple but not banal. The sanctuary of Monte Senario It is one of the most important sanctuaries in Tuscany. The places of charm of the place go beyond the structure which in itself is beautiful. There are 3 caves the cave (and source) of San Filippo Benizi the cave of Sant'Alessio Falconieri the cave of San Manetto.

From here, at about 700 m above sea level, in fact, our circular route begins…

We go up along the Via Crucis, which reaches the monastery along a beautiful tree-lined avenue, a wide path in the thick of the woods, characterized by fir trees and larches. Along the way we come across the cemetery of the Friars or of San Martino and some indications of other paths and especially of the caves of Saints. Follow the last sign, which indicates to turn right to visit the cave of Sant'Alessio and San Filippo and the source of the latter. Almost arrived at the monastery, therefore, we skirt the lower part, and we reach the first cave and then the second. We immediately notice a beautiful view of the surrounding hills and mountains ... The main attraction, however, is the Source of San Filippo, which sprung up by a miracle from the prayers of the saint in 1254; decorates and protects a beautiful little temple, built in 1629. We continue the tour around the monastery and emerge at the adjacent parking lot: from here we can directly take the path to continue the trek or, following the asphalt road on the left, visit the sanctuary so rightly famous. Have you ever tasted the “Gemma d'Abeto”? Guess where and who produces it?

The friars of Monte Senario have been producing a liqueur with fir extracts called "Gemma d'Abeto" in the convent distillery since 1865. The distillery was once a pharmacy. You can also get a sandwich with local products (cold cuts and cheeses) and stop at the monastery shop to buy typical products.

🟡ON FOOT FROM FIESOLE TO FLORENCE (WITH RETURN TO FIESOLE)

📌The route is 3.5 km long and 1.30 hours

The descent from the “mother” to the “daughter”, with the legendary reference to the Etruscans who saw the new city being born from the hill below, Florence, at the confluence of the Mugnone river with the Arno.

The walk begins from Piazza Mino da Fiesole, the city center. You go around the apse of the Cathedral on the protected pedestrian street that runs alongside the archaeological area. After the crossroads for the cemetery, you leave on the right, at a hairpin bend, Via Primo Conti that descends along the Etruscan walls and take the solitary Via Duprè. Following it, you soon look out onto the northern side of the Fiesole hill, with beautiful views of Monte Rinaldi, Pian di Mugnone and Caldine. Via Duprè descends gently, touching panoramic villas in the woods. You come across Villa 'Le Coste', home to the artist Primo Conti's Foundation and his Museum dedicated to the historical avant-gardes of the twentieth century. Further on is Villa Giovanni Duprè with the statue of the Tuscan sculptor that presides over the entrance. A little further on, in the San Francesco area, is the crossroads with Via di Fontelucente, closed to cars. We descend steeply to the right along this narrow street between the walls and picturesque for the landscape of rocks and cypresses. We reach the square in front of the Church of Fontelucente,

Inside the church, a water source flows from the rock incorporated into the right wall. Also noteworthy is the gilded wooden antependium with the Madonna della Cintola, attributed to Mariotto di Nardo. We now continue along Via delle Palazzine, among beautiful villas where artists and writers lived. The Villa 'La Pagliaiuola' is now home to the Robert Schuman Advanced Studies Center. A few more steps and we reach

the Badia Fiesolana.

The ancient cathedral of Fiesole, with its beautiful marble façade in Florentine Romanesque style. The European University Institute has its headquarters in the adjacent monastery.

From the terrace of the churchyard, you can see, beyond Ponte a Badia, the large Villa Salviati which today houses the historical archives of the European Union. We set off on the protected pedestrian path of Via dei Roccettini which leads us in front of the church and convent of San Domenico.

Beato Angelico also lived in San Domenico and left some of his frescoes there. If you are tired, you can stop your walk here.

Bus 7 provides a connection to Fiesole.

🟡FROM FIESOLE TO SETTIGNANO

📌The CAI 1 trail starts from Fiesole and arrives in Settignano.

This excursion is simple and suitable for families, along the typical Tuscan landscapes: it is an urban trekking on asphalt.

We take advantage of the route to visit the small village of Settignano dating back to the Bronze Age. In the Roman and Etruscan era there was already a real village that, thanks to the roads of the middle of the mountain, connected with Compiobbi and Fiesole. In this small village many illustrious people have followed one another over the centuries including Margherita Hack and Mark Twain.

You leave the main square of Settignano and walk along Via del Rossellino, a street that takes its name from the two famous sculptors, the Rossellino brothers. Via del Rossellino winds through olive groves and beautiful views of Florence and its Duomo, up to the large villa Gamberaia.

This huge villa recalls the great Renaissance past

Continuing along the road you reach a large cross and from there you arrive at the cemetery of Terenzo. This part is very pretty; a narrow path paved with stone and the pretty little church of San Martino in Terenzo accompany us on the descent towards Compiobbi.

Here and there you can see large villas and, if you train your eyes, you can see ancient towers, transformed into houses, built in the early Middle Ages to patrol the Arno and the valley. Along the excursion there are many opportunities to stop for a picnic or have fun guessing the various hills or mountains that surround us.

You can cut back to return to Settignano: avoiding going down to Compiobbi, once you arrive at Via di Bagazzano. Just go up following the road and at the end turn left to return to Settignano.