A tour through history between Florence, Lucca and Pisa

We start symbolically from Ponte Vecchio, following the bicycle paths on the right bank of the Arno until we enter the Cascine Park, which we will ride the entire length of.

Once we arrive at the monument to the Indian Prince, we cross the small bridge over the Mugnone stream and take the Renai bicycle path, again on the right bank of the Arno.

We leave Florence and at the San Donnino railway station we cross the river on the new bicycle footbridge and continue keeping to the left bank. Not far away stands the hexagonal bell tower of the abbey Badia a Settimo, which can be reached with a short detour. After a couple of kilometers on the embankment, we come to a river park at the end of which we temporarily abandon the Arno and head toward Lastra a Signa. The fortified village is worth a short visit, when we may have a second breakfast that is always welcome, also to gather strength before the most important climb of the day. Let's not be frightened; we only need to overcome 160 meters of elevation gain in the next 4.3 kilometers. The ancient walls of Malmantile will indicate the arrival at the summit.

Once we go past the "little tooth," we quickly return to the valley to take a long completed stretch of the Arno bike path. We leave the bike path only to pass by the towns of Montelupo Fiorentino first, and then Empoli, where we take advantage of the digression to cross the historic town center to the beautiful square of Farinata degli Uberti and the Collegiata di Sant’Andrea, a treasure trove of works of art. 

Once past Empoli, we take the Arno bike path again for 6.7 kilometers to the point where it stops, at Marcigliana. We continue for a few kilometers on minor roads until we cross and finally leave the river at the gates of Fucecchio (we keep an eye on the track on our GPX viewer to take all the right junctions). We pass through the town's interesting historic center to continue along the south/west edge of the green lung of the Padule di Fucecchio. The route zigzags amid minor roads to avoid the busiest routes until we reach Altopascio, with a final stretch of bike pushing by hand to pass by the square.

Shortly after Altopascio, the route crosses an industrial area that, depending on the time of day, could be trafficked by heavy vehicles: we therefore ride carefully in this stretch, particularly when we cross the road near the highway junction.

Once past this short stretch the road is quiet again amid the greenery until it joins, by now at the gates of Lucca, Via Romana, which we will take to the left to reach the capital. Lucca certainly deserves a thorough visit, even lasting several days, but our itinerary is limited to crossing the historic town center from east to west, entering through Porta Elisa and exiting through Porta Sant'Anna. Leaving Lucca behind us, we ride off to the west until we reach the Serchio river, where we take the bike path along the embankment, watched in full view by the Castle of Nozzano, a fortified village on a small hill on the opposite bank, and the Rocca di Ripafratta; the imposing ruins visible on our left are at the point where we have to make a short crossing on the provincial road to overcome a break in the track on the embankment.

After eight hundred meters we re-enter the riverbank for a beautiful and bucolic stretch, until we reach the Vinci gates of Rigoli, the ancient dam system that regulates the flow of water from the Ozzeri canal, which here flows into the Serchio.

Shortly afterwards we leave the river for good and head in a decisive manner toward Pisa, now in sight of our destination.

At the entrance to the city, just past the railroad tracks, we turn right onto a handy bicycle path that will take us straight to Piazza dei Miracoli, where we can greet, leaning over, the world's most famous leaning tower.