Mount Amiata guided tour

Mount Amiata, enchantment beyond the Tuscan landscape

Besides the vaunted Tuscany landscape, that of cypresses and golden fields, there is a place in the region where nature is still wild and fascinating in its being difficult to tame; to discover this place you have to leave the low altitude of the Val d’Orcia hills to climb towards peaks where you can discover the history of men and their millenary civilization: all this is what you can discover by the Mount Amiata guided tour.

We begin this beautiful route from Bagno Vignoni, a spa hamlet known since Roman times and frequented by great personalities, such as Santa Caterina da Siena and Lorenzo the Magnificent. Here we will see the famous medieval basin of the village from which, still today, sulphurous water naturally rises; the picturesque aspect of the thermal bath allows you to contemplate a truly enchanting image, which inspires a sense of tranquillity and harmony. The great evocative capacity of the Bagno Vignoni Baths has even inspired the famous Russian filmmaker Andrej Tarkovskij who wanted to film here some scenes of one of his famous Nostalghia. We move to the Parco dei Mulini, a few metres from the basin, where we will be able to observe how worked the articulated system of channels, those that, through the exploitation of the kinetic force of the water coming from the spring basin, allowed the operation of the mills installed here and that were already used in the Middle Ages by the inhabitants of the surrounding countryside.

Radicofani Fortress

The Fortress of Radicofani

Reaching the village, the first thing you can notice is the dark colour of its buildings; this feature is due to basanite – the local volcanic stone – widely used in both civil and religious constructions. This outpost welcomed within its perched walls a rebel who came from Siena, went down in history as the”Robin Hood of the Val d’Orcia“: the rebel was called Ghino di Tacco. Through the stories I will have to tell you about this almost legendary character, you will discover the reason why he is remembered by this amusing name. The monuments that will be visited in Radicofani, such as the San Pietro church, the Sant’Agata church and the Fortress, are still clear signs of the function as outpost this village had, especially in the times when this was a ‘land border’, disputed by armies, municipalities and lordships.

From Radicofani we move on with the Mount Amiata guided tour, going down to the valley to reach Bagni San Filippo. Stopping at this other well-known termal bath, we can see the so-called White Whale, a sort of rocky sediment formed by the stratifications of the sulphurous water coming out from the springs and which over time has created an image similar to a whale. Encouraged by the hot water that still flowing today, many people stop here to take a bath and relax with friends, especially at the weekends. Leaving Bagni San Filippo, we head to the last stop of our Amiata guided tour: the village of Abbadia San Salvatore.

The white whale of Bagni San Filippo

The crypt, a wonder of the Lombard era

Once inside the church, on the main altar we can admire a beautiful wooden crucifix dating back to the Romanesque age, one of the oldest and most precious artefacts that have been preserved in Tuscany. But the real jewel of the church is its wonderful Crypt – dating back to the 8th century –, a very rare architectural testimony of the Lombard era. The ‘forest’ of columns that you will see in this environment of incredible suggestion will bring you back, with your imagination, to the time when the monks officiated religious rites under these vaults, having as light that of candles, as sound that of the songs in Latin and as a perfume that of incense. After visiting the crypt of the church, we can also see the Abbey Museum which, in addition to precious church furnishings, houses a facsimile of a great masterpiece of illuminating art, preserved in this monastery until the end of the eighteenth-century: the Amiatina Bible.

At the end of this Amiata guided tour, shortly after you have left Abbadia San Salvatore, you will see in the distance the blurry horizon line, in all similar to the indefinite timeline that on Monte Amiata seems to have really stopped. This is where nature and history come together, giving you an image of Tuscany that you would have never expected.

The Lombard Crypt of Abbadia San Salvatore