A walk to Monteriggioni

On November 5th, we walked from our apartment in Colle Val d'Elsa to Monteriggioni and took a bus home. The round trip took 6.5 hours which included 2 hours in Monteriggioni.

6:30 - woke up to alarm. Made coffee in our stovetop espresso maker. Breakfast of toast, ricotta cheese, dried fruit and yogurt.

Packed sandwiches of ricotta cheese, prosciutto, lettuce, and Gran Cereale cookies. Transferred our route, which I'd created in Google Earth, to my GPS receiver.

9:00 to 9:40 - Walking south from Colle, we were on pleasant urban and suburban sidewalks with light traffic.

Starting at the northwest end of the green line, we had urban and suburban sidewalks from 9:00 to 9:40

9:40 to 11:00 - Our route along country roads with almost no traffic also happens to be the "via Francigena" (Franciscan Way), a pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome. When the sun broke through the clouds we were in short sleeves.

The via Francigena is quite well marked.

This guy rode by during our late morning sandwich break

11:30 - we came to a sign that describes a "Gran Fondo" bike race to be held on this route in the spring of 2016. The sign on the bottom is just a marker for the via Francigena. It was easy to stay on this route once we were on it but we got on an off it at various points.

Most of our route on this day was in open farmland but we passed through a small, dense stand of mixed deciduous trees.

The trail passed through a dense and dark little forest

Where we emerged from the forest  

12:00 - We came upon this little chapel that was built by a secular society dedicated to "Our Lady of the Snow". An August snowfall in Rome during the 4th century apparently created quite a stir. The building has pentagonal plan and was a private residence after it was a chapel.

"Oratorio della Madonna delle Nevi"

Our route took us through a group of buildings that was originally conceived as a family monastery in the year 1001, partly as a stopping place on the via Francigena.

Passing through Abbadia a Isola 

Monteriggioni was built on a small hill in the 13th century by the republic of Siena as a defence against Florence. Our final approach after 4 hours of walking and resting, was steep but short and beautiful.

Final approach to Monteriggioni

One of the rewards of an 18 km walk is enjoying a second lunch! We were comfortable sitting in the shade on this mild November day. The Piazza Roma was almost deserted.

Pizza at a pizzeria on the piazza 

You can go up to the top of the castle walls for a good view.

We already had bus tickets for our return to Colle but the hardest part of the whole day was finding the Monteriggioni bus stop. It was down the hill, outside the castle, a few hundred metres away. We caught our bus and were back in Colle in 20 minutes!

"Andiamo per Colle?",  "Si!"