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Siena & Southern Tuscany
Nights: 7
Starting point: Hotel Santa Caterina (3*), Siena. This centrally located hotel is situated by one of the medieval city gates just outside the historical heart, a 20-minute stroll from the Campo, making it a great base from which to explore Siena. Converted from an 18th-century villa, it offers a pretty garden and well-equipped bedrooms furnished in traditional Tuscan style. Your stay here is on a bed and breakfast basis, leaving you free to take your pick of the many restaurants. Day 1: your first full day is devoted to sightseeing. The delightful plaza of Il Campo is the centre of Sienese life, bordered on one side by the Palazzo Pubblico, which houses some splendid frescoes, including Lorenzetti's Effects of Good and Bad Government, and is topped by the Mangia Tower, which offers a superb panorama of the city. The cathedral is also well worth a visit (among its masterpieces are works by Jacopo della Quercia and Donatello), as are the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and the Pinacoteca. Accommodation: Hotel Santa Caterina, as above. Day 2: today you collect your bicycles and head out of Siena, with the choice of a shorter option with steeper gradients and a short train ride for the last leg (pay locally) or a longer route with gentler climbs. Winding trails cross the clay hills of the Crete Senesi, entering a completely different landscape of rolling wheat fields where the views stretch for miles. (23km or 33km) Accommodation: Hotel La Pace (3*), Asciano. Though located close to the town centre, this pleasant little hotel has been lovingly created from a former farmhouse, with attractively furnished rooms, extensive gardens, an outdoor pool and a welcoming restaurant with a rustic feel. Day 3: you follow very quiet roads through beautiful rolling countryside dotted with farmsteads and hamlets. Soon after leaving Asciano you enter an important wine-producing area to reach the idyllic hill-top village of Trequanda, renowned for its olive oil and pecorino cheese. From here, you cross a patchwork of woodland and fields of wheat and sunflowers in which kestrels and buzzards can commonly be seen. (23km) Accommodation: Locanda della Moscadella (3*), Castelmuzio. This small hotel has been stylishly converted from a beautiful 16th-century stone farmhouse, the beamed ceilings, warm colours and traditional furniture lending much charm to the building. There are large communal rooms, including a sitting room and a cellar bar, while the restaurant is housed in the former stables, an atmospheric setting in which to enjoy traditional Tuscan dishes. The attractive gardens incorporate a panoramic swimming pool. Day 4: you could spend today simply relaxing at the hotel, but our suggested circular route is full of cultural interest and is also very scenic (though hilly!), introducing you to one of Tuscany's most beautiful valleys, the Val d'Orcia. You can even detour to one of its most enchanting villages, stone-built Montefollonica. From Castelmuzio, quiet country lanes wind through vineyards and olive groves to Pienza, Pope Pius II's utopian Renaissance town, where you can take your time to explore before returning to Castelmuzio via the Convent of Santa Anna, set on a hill-top amid cypresses and olives in perfect isolation. If you have the energy, it is well worth detouring to the astonishing hill-top village of Montepulciano. (31km or 35km or 54km) Accommodation: Locanda della Moscadella, as above. Day 5: leaving Castelmuzio, you head back to the convent of Santa Anna, which you can visit if you didn't do so yesterday. You then follow a panoramic strada bianca to the charming village of San Giovanni d'Asso, where you pick up a route across wide-open farmland and rolling hills. This leads via the hill-top village of Chiusure, worth visiting for the views, and continues to Monte Oliveto Maggiore, a huge frescoed monastery half hidden by cypresses. Take your time to visit before heading on to your last base across the fields. A shortcut is possible at the start of the day. (up to 37km) Accommodation: Fattoria Pieve a Salti (agriturismo), Pieve a Salti. This is a true agriturismo, offering characterful accommodation on a large farm estate that produces wine, meat, mushrooms, truffles and dairy products. You will get to sample many of these in the restaurant. Facilities include an outdoor pool, indoor pool, tennis court and spa (pay locally for treatments). Day 6: we suggest a circular route to the wine-producing village of Montalcino, famed for its Brunello di Montalcino reds, for your last day. It starts by taking you to the historic town of Buonconvento, beyond which the landscape opens up, offering views towards Montalcino, with the volcano of Mount Amiata silhouetted behind. As you near Montalcino, the farmland and fields of sunflowers give way to olive groves and vineyards, and you can choose between a route along a wooded ridge and a route through the vineyards. Whichever you opt for, you rise steeply into Montalcino, where it is worth spending some time exploring the ancient streets and visiting the pentagonal fortress. To reward your earlier efforts, you can return to Pieve a Salti via a winery for a spot of wine-tasting. (up to 39km) Accommodation: Fattoria Pieve a Salti, as above. Recommendations for extra nights: add an extra night at the Hotel Santa Caterina to have more time to explore Siena, or choose the Locanda della Moscadella (Castelmuzio) for a day of relaxation by the pool. Alternatively you could combine this with another Tuscan cycle, San Gimignano & the Sienese Plains, to make a 12-night holiday. Other information: if you would like to see the brochure page, you can download this (and the pages for any other holidays you are interested in) by using our brochure creation system. Similar holidays: Secrets of Western Tuscany (grade 2), San Gimignano & the Sienese Plains (grade 1-2), Medieval Villages of the South-West (grade 2) Prices & travel 2008:
Recommended destination airport: Pisa Extra night prices 2008 (extra nights can be booked at any hotel):
> Notes on prices > Any queries? Let us call you back  |
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Cypress
trees that frame a stone farmhouse, hill-top towns above rolling vineyards,
village churches that hide Renaissance masterpieces ... Tuscany constantly
delights. Our route begins in magnificent Siena and heads through
the clay escarpments of the Crete Senesi to reach the open countryside
of the south and the Brunello-producing mecca of Montalcino. This region's quiet country lanes
and strade bianche (unsurfaced roads) are perfect for cycling,
with so much to see and explore along the way. You stay in quality hotels
and an agriturismo, with plenty of opportunities to savour classic
Tuscan cooking, and to sample, of course, the famous local wines.
Locanda della Moscadella, Castelmuzio 
