Type of route: dirt road, on foot, mountain bike or horseback.
Duration: 2:30/2:45 hours
Length: 6.90 km
Ascent and descent: 275 m
The route starts from the Piazza of Villamagna (Coord. GPS N 43 ° 45’42 “E 11 ° 22’57”) where we can find the La Pieve di San Donnino (parish church of San Donnino): the Lombard-Romanesque bell tower is particularly noteworthy. From the square, you can reach the public gardens where, on the left side, a steep path leads to the L’Oratorio del Beato Gherardo (The Oratory of the Blessed Gerard), a simple stone single nave building from the fourteenth century, inside which are traces of fifteenth century frescoes and the empty ark of the Blessed Gerard, whose remains rest in the sixth-century urn preserved in the aforementioned San Donnino parish.
On the opposite side of the road, in front of the oratory, the trail to the l’Incontro (The Encounter) begins. Through a forest of oaks and hornbeams, with an undergrowth of broom, juniper and cistus, we go up to a junction where we turn left and follow the white/red signage; and then continue, always uphill, through the path CAI no. 4, which leads to the Convento dell’Incontro (The Convent of the Encounter) (557 meters above sea level).
The convent, built in 1715 by the Blessed Leonardo di Porto Maurizio, was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt in 1950, and after years of neglect and abandonment, recent interventions have improved and enhanced the entire structure, which also includes a park rich with different species of tree.
As you come out of the convent gate and left along the paved road you can enjoy a wide panorama that sweeps over Florence, the Arno valley and up to the Apennines.
Going down a few meters near the repeaters and then turning immediately left along the perimeter wall of the convent we come to municipal road of l’Incontro, until we find the path CAI 00 on the right that will lead down a hill into a cypress forest partially destroyed by a fire, and come out onto the paved road. At a curve marked by a crucifix, continuing straight, we arrive at Villa Poggio Luco. Turning left, among the slightly uphill cypress trees, we go past the Le Mura locality from where, going downhill, we reach Via di San Romolo. Turning back to the left, we return to Villamagna, where the route ends.
