Our final word from last month’s Slow Travel Fest in Tuscany, and we have deliberately set today’s walk apart from the other posts.
For two reasons: firstly because the Sentiere Elsa is only incidentally linked to the festival’s central themes (of drilling deep into your holiday destination instead of merely skipping over its surface), through geographical rather than contextual proximity. Which is to say that you can (and will) enjoy this even if you are a “Slow Travel Sceptic”.
And secondly, because we wanted to emphasize that this hike is not a here-today-gone-tomorrow festival activity. The beauties of the Elsa river are there to enchant you all year round.
This walk, organised for the Slow Travel Fest in Tuscany 2018, starts in the town of Colle di Val d‘Elsa, a short bus ride away from Poggibonsi on the Florence-to-Siena railway main line, although it may be more convenient to take one of the frequent buses from either city that take you there directly (a brief hop from Siena, a little over 1 hour from Florence).
When you leave Colle’s central bus station, you will have the main town square – called Piazza Arnolfo di Cambio – right in front of you.
Cross the piazza to find the first trace of the walk’s central theme on its far side: what you can see flowing underneath the grid in the pavement is the Elsa. The river will be more impressive once it has come out of its subterranean hideaway.
The Elsa river was formerly the lifeblood of the town. Colle dates back to the 10th century but became a large and prosperous city only when paper mills and iron manufacturers were attracted by the easy availability of water through the river itself and its medieval canal system.
At the top of Piazza Arnolfo, make your way to Via Pieve in Piano through Via dei Fossi. Along your way, you will be able to see some of the ancient Gore, the canals that supplied the inhabitants of Colle with water throughout the Middle Ages.
Continue on Via Diaz past the large intersection and keep on the main road after it changes its name into Viale del Mille behind the roundabout. (This is a rather unattractive section of the walk, but you will soon be richly rewarded. I promise.)
Shortly behind the Eurospin supermarket just before the San Marziale Bridge, turn left from the lay-by on the left side of the road into the foot path and look for the entrance into the Sentiere Elsa.
The weir and barriers underneath the bridge – called the steccaia – were constructed in the 13th century to collect the river water in a pool from which to divert it into the different gore.
On the embankment walls on your left hand side, you can spot the coats of arms of several grand Tuscan aristocratic families who had the canal built and then extended it over the centuries. But you do not need to know any of this – or care – to enjoy what will follow for the next 2 hours.
The river Elsa may no longer be wild, but human control has only enriched its beauty by adding a fascinating rhythm of changing tempi.
Sometimes, the Elsa is a slothful pond …
… which gives a credible impression of a bayou in subtropical Louisiana: you half expect an alligator to rear its head …
… but sometimes the river can be as temperamental and lively as a mountain stream in the spring …
… which even features a steep and impressively voluminous waterfall.
The path itself is interestingly laid out: it never becomes boring or repetitive, providing some easy-to-manage challenges …
… and places that invite you to linger and let it all sink in during a moment of quiet contemplation.
The Sentiere is highly popular among the locals. You may very well meet young people who take a swim – on a fine day – as well as mature folk with a more leisurely idea of what constitutes a good day out.
By the way: the water really is turquoise blue. Apparently this has something to do with the minerals that the river collects on its way from the hills of eastern Tuscany into the lowlands nearer the coast.
Eventually, you will come to another large bridge. Climb up the stairs, turn left to cross the bridge and, on the other side of the river, right into Via della Spugna before immediately crossing over on your left into Via delle Cassette.
After one block, you will return to the central bus station on Via Romano Bilenchi from where you can catch a ride back to Poggibonsi, Siena or Florence.
You should, however, not leave without having visited the old town on top of the hill that overlooks Piazza Arnolfo. Colle’s historic town centre is, as everyone from the area assured us, renowned for its beauty.
Since our walk was a group activity organised as part of the Slow Travel Fest in Tuscany 2018, (and since we had set out in the afternoon), there was, unfortunately, no time for us to check this out for ourselves. But we surely will if and when we come back.
