Ancient Via Francigena in Galleno

In the initial part of the stage from Altopascio to San Miniato, at the end of the hamlet of Galleno, you come across a beautiful stretch of the ancient Via Francigena as it was in past times: the track begins with a cobblestone road (initially parallel to the state road) that soon goes into the woods on a fairly flat and easy footpath, rideable also by a city-bike.
After the wild and deserted Cerbaie hill, you descend towards Ponte a Cappiano, where a hostel has been achieved inside the ancient Medici bridge.

Galleno is a little town located in the innermost of the “Cerbaie” (an area astride of the provinces of Florence, Lucca and Pisa); it owes its original development in the Middle Ages to the presence of the intersection between the road that led to Pescia and the Tuscan leg of the Via Francigena that connects Altopascio to San Miniato. Just because of its position as a crossroad, it was the seat of a hostel for travellers and pilgrims. A stretch of pavement of the ancient route of the Via Francigena is still visible for some hundreds of meters.

Nice road with little traffic