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Medici Bridge of Cappiano

Medici Bridge of Cappiano

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Medici Bridge of Cappiano

Recommended by 31 cyclists out of 33

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Location: Fucecchio, Florence, Tuscany, Italy

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Top cycling routes to Medici Bridge of Cappiano

4.5

(57)

371

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1. St. Michael's Square – Lucca City Walls loop from Altopascio

83.6km

05:20

330m

Hard bike ride. Very good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels.

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4.5

(11)

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2. View of San Miniato – View of the Lucca City Walls loop from San Romano - Montopoli - Santa Croce

128km

08:05

870m

Hard bike ride. Very good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels.

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4.7

(7)

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3. View of the Lucca City Walls – Historic Center of Lucca loop from Montecatini Terme-Monsummano

144km

09:13

1,010m

Hard bike ride. Very good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Hard

Tips

Willem VS

June 29, 2024

Ponte a Cappiano, Tuscany, is a charming place that takes its name from the historic Medici Bridge and Cappiano Hill. This picturesque town is located on the banks of the Usciana Canal, the outlet of the Padule di Fucecchio swamp, and at the foot of the Cerbaie Hills.
The bridge of Ponte a Cappiano, which played a crucial role in the Via Francigena, an important medieval pilgrimage route, has a rich history dating back to the early Middle Ages. It was once administered by the Knights Hospitaller of Altopascio and was even studied by the famous artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci.
The current form of the bridge was built in the first half of the 16th century by Cosimo I de' Medici. Today, two inscriptions on the bridge still testify to this historic event.

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Giuseppe PICCIOLI

April 29, 2023

Located on the Via Francigena, it houses a hospice for pilgrims.
The Medici Bridge of Cappiano on the Usciana canal, emissary of the Fucecchio Marshes, had in the past an important role in the internal navigation system, allowing, until the nineteenth-century reclamations, commercial relations in the stretch between Pistoia and Pisa.

Its current form dates back to the first half of the sixteenth century when Cosimo I de' Medici decided to rebuild it, as documented by the marble epigraphs affixed to its brick structures. The open and covered bridges and the various annexed buildings date back to that period: the inn, the ironworks, the mill and the house of the administrator of the farm.
However, there was already news of this bridge in the Middle Ages, managed by the Hospitallers of Altopascio and included in the Via Francigena itinerary. In 1325, during a conflict between Florence and Lucca, it was destroyed. It was subsequently rebuilt and equipped with a tower and drawbridges, a lock to regulate the flow of water and eel fishing. There was also a mill and a water-powered saw for cutting wood. See: viamedicea.it/it/lungo-il-cammino/ponte-mediceo-di-cappiano

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Vasteregionidelmondo

February 4, 2024

The Cappiano bridge is the monumental bridge built substantially in this form in the mid-16th century on the initiative of Grand Duke Cosimo I, as documented by the marble epigraphs affixed to its brick structures. One of the two towers of the Medici bridge perhaps originally belonged to the fortified bridge of Cappiano that Leonardo drew in the famous map of the Arno valley RL 12685 from the Windsor Castle collection. In Leonardo's time, in fact, the Cappiano bridge still maintained the shape it had achieved a few centuries earlier, when the important crossing of the Francigena over the Usciana had been fortified, providing it with a tower. And it is precisely in the late thirteenth-century forms that Leonardo brought the future Medici bridge of Cappiano to paper.

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Anna - Trekking & Gravel 🥾⛰️🚴🏻‍♂️

September 14, 2025

Rest stop along the Via Francigena

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Elevation 20 m

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Sunday 16 November

18°C

14°C

100 %

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Max wind speed: 5.0 km/h

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Location: Fucecchio, Florence, Tuscany, Italy

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Medici Bridge of Cappiano

1. St. Michael's Square – Lucca City Walls loop from Altopascio

2. View of San Miniato – View of the Lucca City Walls loop from San Romano - Montopoli - Santa Croce

3. View of the Lucca City Walls – Historic Center of Lucca loop from Montecatini Terme-Monsummano

Other Popular Places to Check Out

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