Ring of the shelters of the Amiata

The Macinaie Meadow is the starting point of this Amiata trail: in the middle of the meadow we can enjoy a beautiful view of the beech forest and the ski lifts and ski slopes. Not far away, here is the trailhead.

Once we take it and make the first few hundred meters, we will have the choice of turning right toward the Guardian Hut or taking a short detour to the left in the direction of Madonna di Camicione. Here we will find, as well as a perfect place for barbecues and lunches with friends, a votive shrine to Our Lady, which gives its name to the place following the legend of the merchant Camicione, a great blasphemer who redeemed himself right here at a time when his life was in grave danger.

Descending instead to the Guardian Hut, passing by old charcoal-burning squares where beech wood became charcoal, icehouses where snow was stored until summer, the trail winds completely within the beech forest.

Passing the hut, we briefly cross the provincial road and head toward the First Refuge, crossing streams swollen with water at the first autumn rains and the melting of snow in spring.

Once you get to the First Refuge you go up the slope to the Cantore Refuge and the Marsiliana, where you meet the lifts again and can choose whether to rest or set off to conquer the summit and its monumental cross.