Between hermitages and castles in the Terre di Siena

We start in Siena, from Porta di Fontebranda, named after the famous Fonte built under the mighty bulk of the Basilica of San Domenico. We start riding slightly downhill until we will take Strada di Pescaia, a busy but necessary street to leave the urban area. We ride it uphill for about a kilometer and then take Via di Collinella and Strada dei Cappuccini on the left. At Palazzo Diavoli we turn left, leaving behind the outskirts of Siena, along the road that continues in the direction of Florence.

Shortly after the locality Braccio we cross the road of Petriccio and Belriguardo on the left. Amid continuous ups and downs we reach Pian del Lago, at the foot of the Montagnola Senese. 

A detour of about a kilometer on a dirt road (on a steep slope) will allow us to reach the Hermitage of Lecceto, now an Augustinian Nuns' Convent. The effort has paid off as we can admire the beauty of the religious complex and the natural environment it is surrounded by. Here we will also find an equipped green area.

We turn back along the dirt road to continue towards the Hermitage of San Leonardo al Lago (from the Hermitage of Lecceto a shorter alternative inside the woods is also possible, but with a very uneven surface). Once we are back on asphalt we turn left, then left again; the road, soon unpaved, proceeds downhill until it reaches Osteriaccia.

From here two tracks depart that go into the woods: the first, on the right just before the building, leads to the Piramide, an obelisk that commemorates the eighteenth-century reclamation of Pian del Lago, and to the Canale del Granduca, or rather a tunnel now accessible that is about two kilometers long and which made it possible, after several unsuccessful attempts, for the waters to drain. It has beeb calculated that in winter the reclaimed waters covered an area of 156 hectares with a depth of up to 3 meters.

The second track, at a drinking fountain, on the left from Osteriaccia, leads to the Hermitage along an old livestock trail.

From the Hermitage, along a downhill dirt road, we arrive onto the Provincial Road of Montemaggio (left turn) where we follow the directions for Celsa. A short climb and then, at the first detour on the right, we ride along a dirt road that in less than a kilometer (in some cases we will have to put our foot down) takes us to Santa Colomba. The small medieval village possessed a castle, which was severely damaged in 1364 when the Compagnia di Ventura of Giovanni Acuto (John Hawkwood), an English warlord in the pay of Florence, passed through. 

To arrive in Siena we need to descend toward Pian del Lago, riding for about three kilometers on the plain. On the left, on the hill, we can admire the unique construction of the Castello della Chiocciola. We follow the directions to the town, from which we are separated by about five kilometers.

Itinerary curated by stradedisiena.it