포레스타 델라 발레 베네데타 주변 최고의 반려견 동반 하이킹 & 워킹 코스

Please take into account that it is very technical and some roads are closed.

Presence of water fountain

Eremo della Sambuca (Valle Benedetta - Livorno) The hermitage is located south of the Valle Benedetta in the forest of the Livorno Mountains. Already known in the 13th century as an Augustinian hermitage, one of the many that flourished throughout the Christian West to welcome those who wanted to retreat in prayer far from the noise of the world, in 1390 it took the name of Eremo di Santa Maria in Parrana Among others, the Gesuati penitential friars settled there. The Gesuati (not to be confused with the Jesuits) were born as an association of lay penitents founded in the 14th century by St. Giovanni de' Colombini from Siena. They preached peace, poverty and their main function, in addition to prayer, was to assist the sick, the poor and the needy. They spread throughout Italy and, in particular in Tuscany, founded many convents. The Augustinian hermitage was expanded and strengthened by them with other interventions in the vicinity (cultivations, a water mill, "icehouses"). Precisely because of the holy life that these monks led and because of its position sunken into the valley of the Ugione stream, the hermitage took the name of Santa Buca, or Sambuca. Over time, the Gesuati also took over the administration of the Sanctuary of Montenero. After the Gesuati order was suppressed in 1668 by Pope Clement IX (and their assets confiscated to support the war against the Turks), the complex passed to a series of private owners and followed a long period of decline. The structure consisting of a small church (with a single nave, divided into three bays with a circular apse, cross vaults and remains of frescoes, including an Annunciation), cells, guesthouse, refectory, kitchen, granary, cellar, is in poor condition. Since 1950 the structure has been a state-owned building of the Municipality of Collesalvetti. In 1912 it was declared a national monument and a few years ago it was entrusted to the Parish of Giovanni Gualberto in Valle Benedetta.

Villa Cristina is a scout house. In the summer of 2023 I was also lucky enough to go camping with the Salesians

The entire area on which the villa stands has been inhabited, albeit sporadically, since prehistoric times, as evidenced by some artefacts (flints and arrowheads) from the Paleolithic and Neolithic era. In the 19th century, two bronze daggers were found and, more recently, the remains of a marble sarcophagus dating back to a period between 100 and 200 AD.

Ancient Hermitage, whose oldest nucleus dates back to 1100 (small church of Santa Maria di Parrana, with a few cells, Augustinian Fathers of S. Jacopo in Acquaviva), located in the valley of the Ugione torrent, in the Provincial Natural Park of the Livornesi Mountains and in the complex regional agricultural-forestry Livornesi Hills (Valle Benedetta Forest). From 1390 the hermitage took the name of Santa Maria della Sambuca and the penitential Gesuati friars settled there (until 1668, the year of dissolution of the order), with consequent expansion of the structure (church, cells, guesthouse, refectory, kitchen, barn, cellar). A state property since 1950, the Hermitage has been partly renovated with CIPE funds, but is in a state of abandonment and the other two wings (including the beautiful cloister) require urgent conservative restoration. Of great interest for the circuit of existing routes that touch other cultural emergencies such as the remains of mills on the Ugione stream (late 1600s - early 1700s), the ice houses (late 1700s) and other historical-cultural testimonies, as well as naturalistic and geological emergencies.

The Agesci and Cngei scouts are responsible for managing Villa Cristina, which is a structure immersed in the greenery of the Livornesi Mountains provincial park, precisely between the Corbolone shooting gallery and the Sambuca Hermitage. The structure, public, and owned by the Tuscany Region, which entrusted its management first to the province of Livorno and subsequently to the Colline Metallifere body

Only the large park was partially saved from abandonment and is today open as a public garden. it is a large green space (8 hectares, with valuable and exotic plants: palm trees, cedars of Lebanon, Aleppo pines, eucalyptus...), which was enriched by an oval basin and berceau and crossed by a double colonnade which led westward to a guest cottage; here a railing allowed you to admire the countryside sloping down to the sea. Finally, some service buildings (now in ruins) and a private chapel embellished with frescoes and paintings, the Scafurno Chapel, happily restored by a private individual a few years ago, were also part of the property. images: https://ascosilasciti.com/it/2021/04/29/il-bucolico-giardino-abbandonato-d winter/