Project Description
Monteriggioni is located on the top of a hill, which overlooks the plains and the hills all around .It is one of the few examples in Tuscany, and in Italy, of a walled medieval town whose walls – where 11 towers out of the original 15 still stand out – has remained intact to this day. The fortified walls of Monteriggioni or “Mons Regionis” dating back to 1214 were built at the behest of the then “Podestà” of Siena all around a pre-existing rural settlement of Lombard origin, in order to defend the northern border and thus counteract the expansionary power of Florence.
We will start from here towards the “Montagnola Senese”, a wooded area characterized by a rich vegetation of Holm oaks, Turkey oaks, chestnuts, hornbeams and traces of human activities as the remains of ancient stone walls and some clearings used, in the past, for cultivations. Along some of the trails we will go through, we will still find stretches of cobblestones roads, typical of Medieval Age, where you can still see the tire marks left by the wagons. Finally, we will ride along some sections of the Via Francigena – the ancient medieval road connecting Rome to Europe – and then we will go back again to Monteriggioni.
We will cross the medieval village of Monteriggioni by bike, to admire closely the magnificence of its walls and its architectural features. We will be definitely tired but happy to have made such a tour out of time where art, history and landscape come together in a rare example of natural beauty.
- Meeting in Montaione in the car park in Piazza Gramsci. See map
- For morning tours: meeting at 8.45, starting at 9.00 and return at 12.00.
- For afternoon tour: meeting at 14.15, starting at 14.30 and return at 17.00.
- Schedules are subject to change. The return time is a guide only.
- Payment in cash at the start of the tour. We do not accept credit cards.
- Reservation required within 48 hours (two days before the departure date of the tour).
- The rate does NOT include rental of mountain biking.
