サンタクローチェスルアルノのおすすめランニングルート

I had high hopes for this stretch. But I have to say I found it in terrible condition, and I'm very disappointed, because I could have promoted it on my tours and brought my clients there. I'm very disappointed that the much-hyped Via Francigena isn't kept in good condition. Just before Galleno, I also found a fallen tree that I had to climb over with my bike, and a second one is about to fall. After that? It's not much better.

Only suitable for MTB.

Nice road with little traffic

The return is along the Via Francigena

After Lauds in the shade of a small village church, the crossing of the ridge to the Arno Valley on the Via Francigena began. The track was very difficult to drive. Forest paths made of hard-packed and parched clay soil, in which countless riders and mountain bikers had left their tracks on wet days, alternating with slippery gravel on steep inclines; all in all a sporting challenge.

The characteristics of this first cycling day are: 1) the beautiful track on a flat and fairly regular dirt road in the middle of bushes and woods, from Galleno to Ponte a Cappiano, on the remains of the ancient Francigena; 2) the rather unpleasant stretch between Fucecchio and San Miniato, in the midst of daily traffic, increased by the noisy (and foul-smelling) manifestation of the Mille Miglia, with 700 cars parade, 3) the lonely stretch between San Miniato and Gambassi, in the open and with frequent climbs on dirt roads and paths, among flowering hills and cultivated fields; 3) the excellent Sigerico hostel near the beautiful church of S. Maria a Chianni, near Gambassi (25 € for overnight stay, dinner and buffet breakfast).

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.