33. Sassaia – Castiglion Fiorentino – Cortona

A short stage without particular difficulties but suggestive for the environment crossed, with its stupendous colours, the villas, the history of two Tuscan cities that have little to envy to other more famous ones, for which we have plenty of time to carefully visit Castiglion Fiorentino first and then Cortona.

Leaving the Logge Vasariane, you pass in front of the church of S. Michele, an octagonal temple built on the basis of a design by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and completed in the early seventeenth century. You leave Castiglion Fiorentino, cross two small streams and find yourself in Bigurro, an area of ​​floral greenhouses. We arrive in the square in Montecchio, at the foot of the beautiful castle, former residence of the English knight of fortune John Hawkwood (Giovanni Acuto). Now the track becomes bumpy; go up to Contrada S. Silvestro, then go down to Villa Schiatti. After Contrade Fonte del Mazza, pass the crossroads for Il Borgo. Immediately after there is the indication for “Etruscan tomb” in the locality of San Pietro a Cegliolo. Avoid the SS 71, pass the locality of Tavernelle and the indication for locality Cegliolo. You cross another stream, walk along a ditch. (from this point cyclists take the Strada del Sodo for 2 km). The locality of Sodo is at the gates of Cortona. We visit the Etruscan excavations, immediately beyond the SS 71 in the locality of Il Molino. It is worth it for their spectacularity and historical-religious value. Then, having passed yet another stream, we head towards the SS 71 which we cross. After a while you find yourself in front of what, in addition to a tomb, was certainly an altar for Etruscan religious rites: the main and most spectacular artefact of the Sodo Archaeological Park. To enter Cortona you go back, cross the stream again, then the SS 71. You start climbing the hill where Cortona stands: an ancient path, once a road with still parts in stone. After a while you find yourself in front of Porta Santa Maria and enter Cortona