Santa Fiora, of gravel we fall in love

As the saying goes, it is hard not to fall in love with Santa Fiora and the elegance of its historic center. Right from here we start with this gravel-friendly ride.

Leaving the town, one descends just below the provincial road, plunging into the green fields and pastures that have always sustained the local people. Climbing slowly back up the mountain, one enters the hamlet of Marroneto, which is closely linked to the chestnut forest that grows around it. Here, if the chestnut was used to make flour and eat, the plants, straight as antennas, were used to shore the tunnels of the cinnabar mines.

Traversing the entire forest, passing a few streams and some clearings, one arrives at Bagnore. This village, too, was born for miners and woodcutters, and here David Lazzaretti, the Prophet of the Amiata who took refuge on Mount Labbro, a short distance away, was born.

From here you descend into the valley, enveloped by geothermal fumes that come directly from the center of the earth to become energy.

When you arrive at Poggi La Bella, you can admire the view toward Santa Fiora, a scenery that is repeated throughout the descent along the side of the knoll: bare of vegetation and precisely for this reason fascinating. Once the descent is over, it is all a succession of beauty: the Fiora springs, the Peschiera and finally the historic center of Santa Fiora.