The Etruscan Way is a hiking route between Carmignano and Marzabotto:
Visits to the many important historical, artistic and archaeological sites in the Carmignano area can be easily toured on foot, by car, by mountain bike, and even on horseback.
Along the way, you can also stop at the many farms and holiday farms to savor the many tastes and flavors that make the area unique while also discovering its beauties.
The Etruscan Way presents true hiking fans with another possibility that offers variety as well as breathtaking views. It can be covered in 5-6 days, making stops at the places recommended going either in a northerly or southerly direction. You can lose yourself in a "faraway" yet still just barely perceptible Etruscan atmosphere.
The places along the way were once inhabited by the ancient Etruscans who built two cities, one on this side of the Apennine watershed and the other beyond, as essentially two way stations for crossing the Apennines. One was Kainua (Marzabotto) to the north and the other, Gonfienti (Prato) to the south of the Apennine mountain range that, both naturally and politically, has always divided northern Italy and Europe from southern Italy and the Mediterranean countries.
The Etruscan Way begins in the ancient Etruscan town of Artimino in Tuscany. It passes through the Bisenzio valley, making stops in Prato (Gonfienti), Vaiano-Montecuccoli, Montepiano-Brasimone Lake, and Grizzana Morandi, and then crosses the Apennine watershed, to arrive at Marzabotto (the Etruscan Kainua), linking ancient Etruria in the current region of Tuscany with the Padanian Etruria in present-day Emilia Romagna.
The Etruscan Way goes along a route that may actually have been the one used by early wayfarers. It follows an ancient route that was probably also used in Etruscan times, as it is the easiest course along the ridges. In addition, scientific research has verified the human presence in antiquity.
All information on the Officiale website - Italian version
The Etruscan road from Volterra to Artimino, Florence and Fiesole
The hiking route of the Via Etrusca Volterra - Artimino - Florence - Fiesole, created as part of the "Toscana Terra Etrusca" project, largely follows one of the main transit routes which, through the territory controlled by the Etruscan center of Artimino, were to connect Volterra and the metalliferous hills to the district of the middle Valdarno, to then move towards the trans-Apennine regions, Bologna and the Adriatic coast.
The route prepared by the Tuscany Region in the area north of the Arno starts from the connection with the Via Francigena near Fucecchio, crosses the territory of Cerreto Guidi and Vinci and enters that of Carmignano (three municipalities of Montalbano in which typical characteristics of the Tuscan landscape, dotted with vineyards and olive groves) to reach the areas deeply marked by the Etruscan presence in the territory of Carmignano: Pietramarina, Artimino, and Comeana. Detailed itinerary on the website of the Tuscany region VisitTuscany.com.
From Mignana an alternative route - the CAI path n. 10 A - allows you to directly reach the fortified Etruscan settlement of Pietramarina, located in an extraordinary panoramic position and in a remarkable naturalistic context.
From Pietramarina, following again the signs of the Via Etrusca - which actually runs along the route already used by the Etruscans, then marked by the churches of S. Giusto, S. Martino in Campo and S. Leonardo - you reach Artimino, seat of the center that controlled the territory, where the Archaeological Museum and the necropolis of Prato Rosello are located, immersed in the Mediterranean scrub, reachable with a short branch of the main route. Itinerary from Artimino to Pietramarina along the Via della Valicarda and Itinerary from the Artimino Museum in Prato Rosello.
Descending from Artimino to Comeana, always following the itinerary of the Via Etrusca, you reach the grandiose Tumulus of Montefortini and that of the Boschetti.
From Comeana you get to Signa and then to Florence following the cycle / pedestrian path that runs along the Arno, from which, at the town of San Donnino, a detour leads to the Etruscan center of Gonfienti. The main route, after passing through the historic center of Florence where the National Archaeological Museum is located, reaches the archaeological area of Fiesole, seat of the Etruscan city, later a Roman colony.
