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Val di Sieve and Mugello
Vineyards , castles and mountains
Pontassieve is the place where the river Sieve, born on the mounts Calvana, meets the Arno after running for about 60 km on its own. Val di Sieve is the name of the lower valley, while the upper part is known as Mugello. These two areas display different features: the first one is made of hills and ploughed fields, vineyards and pastures, whereas the second is mountainous with areas of important reafforestation.
The routes we propose in these areas offer sites of vineyards and olive trees (between Pontassieve and Dicomano), estates, wine cellars, villas, castles and country churches. You can choose to follow the famous wine-road of the Chianti Rufina and the Pomino, to understand more about traditional wine cultivation practised in this area for centuries, and appreciate even more the intense scents and flavour of the wines. Going uphill you will notice that the great forests of oaks, holm oaks and cypresses leave room to beech forests and chestnut trees.
Hometown of the Medici and many other noble families and birthplace of important artists like Giotto and Beato Angelico, the Mugello offers an immense network of paths, muleteers and trails cut through large beech and chestnut forests and meadows blooming in spring. The routes will take you through waterfalls, retreats, abbeys, old sandstone villages and splendid Medicean villas (Trebbio, Cafaggiolo).
A network of several museums (Museo Diffuso) from the Vineyard and Wine Museum in Rufina to the Museum of the Serene Stone in Firenzuola are recommended to those who want to understand more about the environment and the landscape this area offers.
Other sites of interest: Villa Poggio Reale, Rufina; Castello di Pomino.
Food and Wine: chestnuts and related products; the famous and delicious tortelli mugellani, potato filled and served with meat sauce; the immense range of soups, minestra di cicerchie, polenta; the bardiccio, one variety of sausage made of interiors and blood to be cooked on live coal; honey from the local forests; the Chianti Rufina and the Chianti Pomino.
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