Walking in circles 4: Closing the circle!

Badesse - Taverne d'Arbia 26 km

It was a long walk, but today I closed the circle! 

Grande Anello di Siena: 74.2 km 

Didn't have much choice, really. Bus schedules around here are designed for workers, not walkers, and operate on a reduced schedule on Saturdays, and an even more reduced schedule or none at all on Sundays. Even trains are less frequent - particularly at the current time. As a result, I had to wait until 11:45 to catch the first train out to Badesse, where I left off yesterday. 

This was my first train ride in the Time of Covid, and it was only seven minutes long, so it was a gentle introduction. 

Clean, sanitised & pre-distanced train 

It was noon by the time I was out the rear side of the station and the underpass below the Florence-Siena highway and back onto the trail. It was hot slogging up and down those hills under the midday sun on the first day of summer, but the amazing views made it truly worthwhile! 

This is Chianti country! After walking from Badesse (which, as the name implies, used to belong to the Abbess of a large convent) uphill to Miniera (which, as the name implies, used to to be a mine...), I carried on along the ridge past a large flock of sheep in a field. I could make out that at least one of the white figures was a sheepdog, not a sheep - the pastore maremmano is a particularly large and excitable sheepdog which cunningly blends in with its flock by growing to the exact same height as a sheep and dressing itself in a shaggy white coat - but there was a human shepherd on duty as well, and trusting in the shepherd's ability to keep his dog under control, I proceeded confidently on my way, despite the frail look of the fence separating the path from the field of sheep. As it turned out, none of the creatures in the field paid me any attention, or even seemed to notice my passing. I descended to cross a stream, the Staggia, passed an equestrian establishment and climbed up the hill on the other side to Quercegrossa and the village of La Ripa, a couple of rows of houses with no public facilities. By the time I had come through the village I was ready for a break, and I found the perfect place, a series of large, flat rocks to sit on in the shade of a stand of oaks. After a brief rest lying flat on a cool rock in the shade, I resumed my walk, descending into another valley and crossing another stream and a paved road before heading back uphill among the wheat fields and vineyards. 

By this time the tall, dramatic clouds I had seen on the horizon when I began my walk were coming closer, and at the same time I was coming closer to them, and just as they began to take on an ominous aspect with an occasional rumble of thunder, I came to Cellole: an abandoned farmhouse at the top of a hill with stunning views in every direction. On one side of the abandoned and boarded-up building was another, smaller house which looked inhabited, though no-one appeared to be at home; on the other side was an old granary, subsequently used as a storage shelter for farm utensils, and most recently used by walkers seeking shade or shelter from the rain. So I guessed from the two stumps upended to make seats just inside the arch of the entrance. This looked like the ideal place to wait out the storm if it should burst, so I stopped nearby to eat my lunch, take a rest on the grass and wait to see if the storm broke. It did eventually, though it only rained for five minutes, so I probably could have just kept on walking! However, after taking shelter for those five minutes, I sat on a low wall next to the house and watched the storm move off, just to be sure it was gone. Sitting and watching a thunderstorm move across the sky for an hour or so is something is something I had never taken the time to do before. An amazing spectacle! I was not bored for a single minute of the wait. And though I still had a long way to walk, I had no worries about the time, it being the longest day of the year!

Shelter from the storm

          

Once the storm had rumbled off westwards towards Siena, I carried on walking to Monaciano, a manor house with rooms and event spaces available for rent which, like so many similar places I have been walking past these past few days, was quiet and apparently deserted apart from the people who run it. I did not take the optional detour to the Certosa di Pontignano, though I could see it over on the next ridge and it looked interesting; my way is already long today without any optional detours! I shall visit another time. I crossed a small bridge in the woods over another stream, the Bozzone, then climbed steeply up to the castle of Monteliscai. 

From here I followed the lane beside the wall of a villa with a large garden and what must once have been a grand avenue, lined by cypress tress but now somewhat dilapidated and overgrown, leading to a small chapel. I passed the winery of San Giorgio a Lapi and the little hilltop chapel of San Giorgino.   

From here I proceeded down into the valley to cross the stream again, then up a paved road to Pieve di Bozzone and on to the village of Vico d'Arbia. By now evening was coming, and so I took the shortest possible route from there to Taverne d'Arbia, about five kilometres, in the gentle evening sun under a dramatic sky.  

At the end of this day packed with amazing skies and landscapes, one more treat was in store for me: the ghost town of Presciano. Only a couple of households live in the village, the rest being abandoned, neglected and overgrown as a result of a legal dispute. I hope the village will soon be reclaimed and revived, before the buildings become irreparably damaged; but in its present crumbling state it has a unique charm! 

Taverne d'Arbia also has a disused old mill, the Mulino dei Muratori, so it's an ideal place for fans of both ghost towns and industrial archaelogy!

 

The town's other, more modern attraction is a pair of mural paintings by Sienese artist Francesco del Casino on the walls of the underpass below the Siena - Arezzo highway. Walking rather than driving along the road under the highway gives you time to enjoy them. Commissioned by the local branch of the national blood donors' association (AVIS), the paintings have two themes: the spirit of solidarity, and commemoration of the battle of Monteaperti, which took place nearby on September 6, 1260, when the Sienese troops soundly defeated those of Florence, leaving 10,000 dead on the battlefield. As Dante describes it in the Divine Comedy, "Il grande scempio che fece l'Arbia colorata in rosso" - A massacre so great the Arbia River flowed red with blood. Perhaps that's another reason the blood donors' association chose this theme!

I closed the circle as I crossed the bridge over the Arbia River! A total of 74 kilometres, over four days (two half days and two full days). 

On my way to the train station, I saw people waiting at a bus stop, and so I joined them and a bus to Siena came along in three minutes, saving me the walk from the station back home - the last thing I needed at this point in the day! 

Thus ended my Long Walk in a Big Circle around Siena!