Florence, from Dawn till Dusk, Travelling between Livorno, Calafuria, Torre Mozza-Carbonifera, San Galgano And Siena
Are you spending your holidays in Tuscany and feel like driving under an early Summer shining sun?
If you're using Florence as your home-base, you can simply select the best Florence car service and leave for Livorno on the superhighway FI-PI-LI.
Once arrived, you can park your car and take a walk along the Fosso Reale canal, continuing along the streets and little streets around the Old Fortress (Livorno's symbol par excellence) located near the quarter Venezia Nuova and facing the sea.
Livorno is beautiful and characterized by an old-fashioned decadent atmosphere and don't forget that it is also one of the most important harbours of the Tyrrhenian Sea and Italy.
After this mini visit you can jump in your car and take the coast road (Via del Littorale) towards Calafuria.
Calafuria tower is an ancient lookout tower between the district of Antignano and the small town of Quercianella.
The coastline here is very jagged and rocky and if in Wintertime this place becomes tinged with evocative and disquieting undertones, in sunny days of Summertime, crowds of young boys and girls (from Livorno and outside) come here to relax under the sun and dive into the deep blue sea, under the overhanging rocks.
Leave Calafuria behind and take SS1 in direction of Grosseto, pass Rosignano Marittima, Cecina, and San Vincenzo, then take exit Vignale Riotorto. At the roundabout take exit 3 and follow on SP21 in direction of Riotorto, at the second roundabout take exit 1 and proceed along SP39, therefore turn slightly right onto Camping Pappasole road and continue towards Torre Mozza.
Torre Mozza is a very large beach (the masonry tower overlooking the waters is of Saracen origin) and the sea is very particular here because is characterized by two different depths due to the presence of an ancient Roman road that emerges from the surface at about ten meters far away from the coast. This peculiarity creates a “pool-like” effect, moreover, on days the sky is bold, as you lay on the super fine grained sand you can get a glimpse of the outline of the Island of Elba.
Leave Torre Mozza and look for SS439, follow this road in direction of Siena/Massa Marittima and proceed along SS439, then turn slightly right when you arrive in Pian dei Mucini/SS441. Turn right and remain on SS441, turn right again onto SP58, take the first on your right and finally turn left... You are in San Galgano, the site of an ancient unroofed abbey, the Abbey of the Sword in the Rock.
San Galgano deserves surely a visit, beyond its architectural value and historic importance, this Latin cross abbey built according to the Cistercian Rule is undoubtedly the most fascinating and striking in Tuscany.
San Galgano is located in the “Val di Merse”, a place where Mother Nature still reigns supreme, an area rich in churches and castles, slightly far from the traditional tourist routes, an enchanted and uncontaminated place that must be absolutely visited while doing a Tuscany tour.
The last stage of the itinerary before heading back to Florence is the city of Siena.
San Galgano is about 50 minutes far from Siena, whatever road you choose you will drive through one of the most peculiar and impressive landscapes of the world, for this reason we recommend that drivers not divert too much their attention from the road!
The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site (1995) so you have an embarassing wealth of options here.
Do you feel like relaxing a bit and sitting for a drink or a glass of wine?
In this case you can choose one of the little wine bars in Piazza del Campo,
Do you prefer to just admire one of the most significative examples of Italian Gothic-Roman Church Architecture?
Then visit the Duomo, either called the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta.
So this is basically the end of the tour.
You can choose to have dinner in Siena (you can continue walking around the historic lovely centre and stop in a restaurant along the way for a plate of pici with wild-boar sauce) or driving back to Florence along the superhighway in order to watch the sun going down from one of the best observation points in the city: Piazzale Michelangelo.
Caterina Pomini