Country Inn, Guided Hiking and Walking Tours

This tour offers a wonderful contrast between two different areas of the province of Tuscany, the golden heart of Italy. Beginning in Chianti, often described as the quintessence of Tuscany, the trip also visits the less well-known Casentino, a wilder region of outstanding natural beauty in the Apennine Mountains above Florence.

Our first night will be spent at the lovely Hotel Villa Aurora in the center of the village of Fiesole, just 5 miles from Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance and a European center of art and architecture. The next day we drive south into Chianti. Much of our time will be spent in this famous wine growing area. Apart from the vineyards, the landscape is dominated by a concentration of olive groves, old farmhouses with wonderful gardens and orchards, hilltop cypresses, terraced slopes and wooded valleys.

One hike leads from Greve (the unofficial capital of Chianti) up to the highest point of the region, Monte San Michele. The views from here down to the surrounding countryside are quite awe inspiring. There will also be opportunities as part of our “hike through history” to visit some of the famous cities, towns and villages of Chianti, such as Siena, San Gimigiano, Volterra and Volpaia. In Chianti we shall be based at a gracious country house just outside Castellina, the Villa Casalecchi.

From Chianti we drive up into the Apennines, to the Casentino. Here, for the last thousand years, the area has been inhabited mainly by monks in three famous monasteries, notably Camaldoli. Hiking here offers some of the most marvelous scenery in the whole region. We stay in the tiny hamlet of Campigne, in a former ducal hunting lodge, the Hotel Granduca, known for its gastronomic delights, before returning the last night to the foothills of Florence.
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