At 33 km (20.5 miles) with a total ascent of 950m, as well as descents of 550m the full stretch of the stage from San Quirico d’Orcia to Radicofani is the most demanding of the Italian section of the Via Francigena.
Rather than ending at the official stage this time we stopped 5 km short and stayed in the delightful Agriturismo La Selvella, thus breaking this stage up into one long day followed by a short half day.
Following breakfast in our hotel we walked back into town to the official start of our long walk today. Above is Horti Leonini which is a traditional Italian garden. It was established in 1581 by Diomede Leonini on land donated by the Medici family.
Back on the trail the VF way markers took us past the Santa Maria church.
The morning began with pleasant quiet shady roads and a fairly shallow ascent.
We were walking through the Val D’Orcia today.
The first interesting little wow factor of the day was Vignoni Alto a small fortress on the top of a hill.
We saw an open barn with some physalis being dried amongst other things.
We left Vignoni Alto through the stone arch and down this pretty pathway and back onto the quiet road.
The second wow factor was Bagno Vignoni which was one of my favourite places on the Via Francigena. This is the site of hot springs and the whole square (or piazza) of this village was made into one big pond!
This unique ancient water square is 49 m long and 29 m wide and a number of hot springs bubble up and have provided therapeutic bathing opportunities for centuries.
We enjoyed a lovely coffee stop sitting outside the above cafe before heading off again.
We climbed higher where panoramic views of the Val d’Orcia valley opened up.
We walked over several sections of the original Via Cassia today.
It was around 1 pm by now so we started to look for somewhere to stop for lunch.
We found the perfect place for our picnic lunch sitting amid shady olive trees.The above photo was my lunchtime view.
Chris having a rest but siesta time was short as we had to crack on with the walk!
We walked on and on… and somewhere near here we met again with the group of friendly young German students who were walking the whole way to Radicofani today.
The views were spectacular but we were all feeling tired and looking forward to our accommodation for tonight.
We had to cross the Formone Stream under the viaduct. Thankfully it wasn’t deep! And after periods of heavy rain when it is deep, its advised to stay on the road above and cross there.
Approaching Agriturismo Selvella was a huge relief! After the best part of 20 miles (on day 3 having already done 37 miles in the first two days) with sore feet and tingling legs I could barely walk down the long driveway to the farm!
Agriturismo La Selvella had good reviews and it didn’t disappoint. It was my favourite accommodation of the trip.
We stayed in a lovely room called Mimosa with a comfy bed and a powerful hot shower.
Above is the reception of the Agriturismo La Selvella.
I had pre-booked a table for 8 pm for the 4 of us and we enjoyed a spectacular 5 course set meal that evening. As I had not pre-booked vegetarian for Chris and me, I had the set menu having an evening as a non-veggie and tasting wild boar for the first time… possibly…
The food was amazing, all locally produced, very well presented and home made. For example, the second course was “typical home made pasta Pici served with black Tuscan kale”. The cost for this set meal was just 35 euros per person.
We ended the lovely evening with another shot of amari 🙂
Summary
After a very tough day we were rewarded by a stay in the beautiful agriturismo and looked forward to a rest the following day with just 5 km to walk to Radicofani for our next stop.
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