As everyone knows, Siena is not washed by any river. Since ancient times, an extensive network of underground aqueducts, called “bottini”, was used to bring water to the citizens. Legend has it that, in the silence, you could hear the sound of flowing water, typical of a river. An underground river, Diana, repeatedly searched and never found.

Wells were actually dug and the astrologers consulted to find Diana. It was the Siena government itself that took on all the burdens of this research. For about two centuries, Diana was sought, but in vain. Nobody has ever found it.

Nowadays the water arrives in Siena through a modern aqueduct, while the ancient loot can even be visited. For information on how to visit the spoils of Siena, see the website http://www.comune.siena.it/La-Citta/Cultura/Strutture-Museali/Bottini

The subsoil of Siena does not however contain only the secret of the Diana river.

It is said that, at the time when the booties were built, it happened that the workers used for underground work, called “guerchi”, escaped from the tunnels, frightened by having seen some creatures that nestled in the darkness of the earth. What they had seen were the omiccioli and the fuggisole. The omiccioli were similar to merry elves. Otherwise, the creatures called fuggisoli appeared as sudden and sudden flashes of light. The evil ones explained these strange apparitions with the fact that the guerchi were paid in wine.

But it is not just the city that holds secrets. Even the Sienese territory participates in the mystery.

Bettino Ricasoli, nicknamed the Iron Baron (Florence, March 9, 1809 – Castello di Brolio, October 23, 1880), was an Italian politician, mayor of Florence and second president of the Council of the Kingdom of Italy after Cavour. Legend has it that during the full moon, around the castle of Brolio, the ghost of the baron is still around, on horseback and with a pack of hunting dogs in tow. The magnificent castle of Brolio can be visited and is very close to Siena. For information visit https://ricasoli.com/castello/

Very famous is also the legend of San Galgano, who, frightened by the meeting with the Archangel Michael, threw his sword against a rock and, miraculously, it remained stuck. the young Galgano became a hermit and the sword in the rock still resists in the heart of the beautiful abbey, which you can easily reach from the Hotel Palazzo di Valli.

From France to Rome passing through the Alps, and then still along the entire peninsula to Puglia, whose ports led to the Holy Land, a destination for pilgrims. The Francigena soon established itself as the main road connecting merchants, armies and of course pilgrims, between southern and northern Europe. A slow and meditative journey par excellence in the collective imagination, the Via Francigena gathers within itself a manifold wealth of cultural, historical and artistic treasures, surviving through the centuries and attracting many people every year.

A splendid route that crosses half continent and that reaches here, between Siena, the Val d’Elsa, the Val d’Orcia and the white roads of the Val d’Arbia. Reaching the Francigena from the Hotel Palazzo di Valli is very simple, and you can visit the official website to discover the routes, which can be traveled on foot, by bike, and even on horseback. La Francigena crosses the city of Siena, where in fact the Santa Maria della Scala was built, a current museum complex, and at the time a hospital for pilgrims. Great testimony is the great lane of the Pellegrinaio, a pictorial cycle of the fifteenth century that portrays the history of the hospital and the activities of welcoming pilgrims.

To discover the Sienese museum complex you can visit the official website.

 The via Francigena in Tuscany touches beautiful and hidden villages, thick woods and hills, from the Cisa Pass to Lucca, from San Gimignano to Monteriggioni, Siena, Buonconvento, San Quirico, Radicofani, for a total of fifteen stops, to discover the territory, its history, and its food and wine products.

Tuscany is a region rich in art and nature, beautifully expressed in some places in particular. We are talking about artistic parks. Hotel Palazzo di Valli is located a few steps from the historic center of Siena. The locations described here can be reached by car or by public transport. Travel times range from 40 minutes to 2 hours.

Among these you can visit the Chianti Sculpture Park, near Pievasciata, in the heart of one of the most beautiful geographical areas of Tuscany and very close to Siena. The park, which can be visited all year round, in addition to the numerous site-specific works of art created by artists selected from the five continents, offers a rich program of concerts during the months of July and August, in the stone frame of the park’s amphitheater. On the timetable and ticket prices refer to the official site of the Sculpture Park.

Another very famous site is the beautiful and bright Giardino dei Tarocchi, located in the village of Garavicchio, near Capalbio, in the province of Grosseto. Designed by the French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle and built over seventeen years, it houses statues and monuments dedicated and inspired by the figures of the major arcana tarot. The same artist has lived in the park, built starting in 1979, and has carefully populated it with figures covered with mirrors, glass, colored ceramics, animated by a mechanical iron soul, self-propelled.

Absolutely to visit is also Enzo Pazzagli Art Park, located near the capital, Florence. Enzo Pazzagli had already set up in the 90s, the garden of his house in Settignano (FI), a permanent exhibition, but only in 2001 he found in Rovezzano (FI) an ideal terrain for his project. in three and a half years he transformed an uncultivated field into an immense meadow, in which he planted 300 cypresses, which form a living sculpture visible from above. On special occasions a hot air balloon is available to visitors.

Another beautiful park is the one created since 1997 by the Swiss artist Daniel Spoerri,   located on the slopes of Mount Amiata, in southern Tuscany, and which houses about 112 works by 55 different artists. The park can be visited from Easter until October.

 

 

Also in the province of Grosseto, between Boccheggiano and Massa Marittima, we find the enthralling Giardino dei Suoni, a hidden oasis developed around the house of the artist Paul Fuchs, where a series of sculptural works create a real concert of sounds for action of the wind. The preventive appointment is essential and can be done either by telephone or fax by contacting Gaby Fuchs Beisiegel at 0566-998221.

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardino_dei_Suoni http://www.irre.toscana.it/artamb/luoghi/schedeluoghi/schedasuoni.htm

 

Book your holiday at Hotel Palazzo di Valli and treat yourself to an unforgettable experience. Booking directly from our website you will get an immediate 15% discount on your stay.

During the cold winter months there are many destinations in Tuscany suitable for those who want to escape for a while from everyday stress, such as the countless spas scattered throughout the territory. In fact, Tuscany is the region with the highest number of spas Italy. The richest area of ​​spas is the around Siena, between Val d’Orcia, Crete Senesi and Mount Amiata.

Hotel Palazzo di Valli is located a few steps from the historic center of Siena. The spa towns can be reached by car or public transport. Travel times range from 40 minutes to 2 hours.

The free thermal baths of Petriolo are the most famous free baths in Tuscany and are located along the river Farma. As can still be seen from the ruins located near the thermal spring, Petriolo represents in history a rare case of “fortified baths”. In fact, the remains of the residual walls belong to the ancient “Castello di Petriolo” erected structure to defend the source.

 

In Val d’Orcia you can visit the magnificent village of Bagno Vignoni, famous for its characteristic Romanesque thermal bath at the center of the town square. Bathing in this pool is forbidden for reasons of decorum: to find an area where it is possible to dive into the water it is necessary to move under the mills’ park, where the cliff on which the village rises slopes towards the bed of the river Orcia. In a small area, among shrubs of Mediterranean scrub, there is a tank dug at the foot of the limestone wall. Here is collected the thermal water that flows from the town square.

A few steps from Bagno Vignoni and Monte Amiata there is also Bagni San Filippo, another small spa town that offers two types of therapeutic waters: the sulphurous ones that flow from the rocks of the Acqua Bianca ditch and those of the muddy pools of the so-called White Whale . The baths are free and can be reached by following a path in a wood. The Monte Amiata is an old volcano, it is the motor that still realizes its entire area of ​​hot springs (Saturnia, Bagno Vignoni, Bagni San Filippo) and in winter it offers the possibility to ski.

A legend tells that Jupiter, during a quarrel with Saturn, threw a lightning strike from the sky, striking the earth and thus giving rise to the baths of Saturnia (Grosseto), already known by the Romans and the Etruscans. The sulphurous waters that flow from the ground at a temperature of 37 degrees Celsius form waterfalls and are collected in natural pools dug into the rock and arranged in steps in which to immerse oneself in total relaxation.

The beautiful spas of Tuscany therefore offer those who want a little quiet the right solutions, a holiday in the heart of Italy. Book your holiday at Hotel Palazzo di Valli and treat yourself to an unforgettable experience. Booking directly from our website you will get an immediate 15% discount on your stay.