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Eremo della Spelonca and Tana del Drago

Caves

Eremo della Spelonca and Tana del Drago

Highlight • Religious Site

Eremo della Spelonca and Tana del Drago

Name: Eremo della Spelonca and Tana del Drago
Rating: 2

Recommended by 7 mountain bikers

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Location: Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

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Best Mountain Biking Routes to Eremo della Spelonca and Tana del Drago

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1. Junction to Pozzuolo – Grotta Gattaiola loop from San Concordio

29.0km

02:26

570m

Expert mountain bike ride. Good fitness required. Advanced riding skills necessary. Some portions of the route may require you to push your bike.

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5.0

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2. Le Capanne Viewpoint – Ragnaia Trail loop from Vecchiano

39.6km

03:39

930m

Expert mountain bike ride. Very good fitness required. Advanced riding skills necessary. Some portions of the route may require you to push your bike.

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5.0

(1)

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3. Chapel of Saint Bartholomew – Quattro Venti loop from Santa Maria del Giudice

18.2km

01:45

530m

Expert mountain bike ride. Good fitness required. Advanced riding skills necessary. Some portions of the route may require you to push your bike.

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Tips

Luca Rau

March 25, 2021

A suggestive place

Translated by Google •

Stefano

February 19, 2023

Walking along the "Tana del Drago" path, we suddenly find ourselves in front of this beauty, a real hermitage from the Middle Ages, the Eremo della Spelonca. It is absolutely worth visiting. As well as the adjacent cave, called precisely "Tana del Drago".

"The ancient settlement is located in the Lucca area, however near the border with the province of Pisa, near Passo di Croce where the old communication route between Pisa and Lucca used to pass and can be reached on foot from the pass itself. Some authors identify the area as the Hermitage of San Giuliano di Spelonca, others of S. Giorgio.
The hermitage was founded in 1190 by black hermits. However, the founders were not hermits in the classical sense who chose solitude and meditation (eremos = alone), but groups of monks who decided to live in common like the apostles, in poverty, in rather isolated places, even in contrast with the institutions ecclesiastical. They also dedicated themselves to the religious assistance of the population who lived in these places and who had difficulty reaching the churches. There were many hermitic settlements in Tuscany and above all on the Monti Pisani, which some identify with the Mons hermita, who also appears in a fresco in the monumental cemetery of Pisa and in another in the church of S. Agostino in S. Gimignano. The many legends that exist regarding the presence of hermits on the Pisan mountains at the beginning of the Christian era and in the early Middle Ages are not, until today, supported by documentary or archaeological evidence.
The most evident construction at present is represented by a small church with a single hall, dating back to a later period than the foundation; the facade and the barrel vault are from the 1800s, but the structures, which also show a rear extension which may have eliminated a previous apse, are of medieval origin."
* Text edited by D. Arduini and N. Panicucci (GAP) extracted from the booklet: "September 2003. Places, things, signs, history", printed by the Municipality of San Giuliano Terme.

Translated by Google •

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Informations

Elevation 340 m

Weather

Today

Wednesday 29 October

19°C

15°C

20 %

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Max wind speed: 1.0 km/h

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Location: Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

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Eremo della Spelonca and Tana del Drago

1. Junction to Pozzuolo – Grotta Gattaiola loop from San Concordio

2. Le Capanne Viewpoint – Ragnaia Trail loop from Vecchiano

3. Chapel of Saint Bartholomew – Quattro Venti loop from Santa Maria del Giudice

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