The Streets through the waters
Touristic-cultural Itineraries of the City Manciano
By the Civic Museums of Pitigliano in cooperation with EURO INNOVANET SRL

	Introduction		map of all the paths
1	Cerro spring		map
2	Salt road		map
3	"Leopoldina", "La Stellata" and "Guinzano" springs		map

Introduction

"The Streets through the waters" is a net of paths and cycle runs inside the territory of Manciano, fit to valorize its naturalistic, archaeological and historical aspects. The project is a work in progress, that will see the immediate realization of cycle-tourist itineraries and three paths for trekking, MTB and walks on horseback, while the other ones will be equipped in a second moment.

Each of them has peculiar characteristics, both hydro-geological and environmental, as well as archaeological, historical and anthropological. The same runs are constituted by flagstone Roman roads and ancient customs, known and used since the 14th cen.; they show, in fact, the running of life and the coming after of the ancient people in the land.

Protagonist of this paths is water, or, better, the waters: sulfuric, spring and salty waters. For a long time, in fact, human agglomerations were formed around them, or they simply were destination of "pilgrimages."

Every itinerary is found near one of the countries (Manciano, Montemerano, Saturnia, Marsiliana di  Albegna, Poggio Murella, S.Martino sul Fiora) of the town district, and has an “emergency exit” to quickly reach, in case of necessity, the provincial road or the inhabited area and, besides being edged from old farms and agricultural houses, today have become agritourisms and characteristic productive firms, where it is possible to find wine, olive oil, honey, chees, saffron, etc.

Vines cultivated in our villages, are, in general, Sangiovese, ciliegiolo, canaiolo, syrah, alicante, ansonica, malvasias, trebbiano, fermentino, that give good D.O.C.s The principal olive cultivars are canine, olive, soriolo, olivella, leccino, pendolino, frantoio, moraiolo. Among the cheeses, or caseum, we find the Tuscan pecorino, mixed forms of sheep and cow milk, some niche production like the caprino and the saffron cheese, among the cheese there are some D.O.P. s. Milk workmanship was very important in the zone since the most ancient periods, as shown by the fragments of boilers and strainers, held in the Prehistory and Protohistory Museum of the Fiora Valley and the same customs, roads, from which went down, from the Appennines, the shepherds with the flocks, on which therefore the transumanza was practiced.

Cerro Spring		map
KIND OF ITINERARY:	path suitable for trekking, MTB and horse-riding walks
LENGTH:	about 7 Km
DURATION:	about 3 hours on foot, 1 hour in MTB, 1 hour by horse.
HEIGHT DIFFERENCE:	450 sl-275 sl (see graphic)
DIFFICULTY:	middle-low

The run starts from Manciano, village of medieval origin, that rises on the  grey sandstone of the "Boulder" type, going up to the upper Oligogene-Eocene, with the same material are built the houses and the most ancient alleys. On the tallest point there is the 12th century bridge house of the Andobrandeschi family,  once having been a defensive structure and today being seat of the town hall, inside it are held works of contemporary art and pictures of Pietro Aldi, painter of Manciano (1854-1888), but also of Paride Pascucci, artist from Manciano, regarded as the last of the macchiaioli painters (1866-1954).
On the roofs it is easy to see wild pigeons (Colomba livia), taccole (Corpus monedula) and thievish (Pica pica) magpies, while at twilight it is possible to hear the cry of the owl (Athene noctua) and the puff of the barn owl (Tyto dawn). More at low, there is the tower of the clock raised in the 15th cent., near which rose the building of the vicar.
In the historical center we also find the Church of S.Leonardo, probably dating at the 14th cent. , that  suffered numerous reparings both in past times, and in the 20th cent., internally there is a baptismal source of the 13th cent. and pictures of the painter Pascucci. To continue the itinerary we must go out of the historical center, through the Door “Fiorella”, so denominated because it gave on Florence, supported to a medieval tower, restructured by Siena, after that in 1416 it occupied the city of Manciano.
Near the latter there is the shop of the "House of the Cheese", in which wine cellar cheeses of sheep and meats of wild boar are seasoned (Ponticino street, 40 phone 0564-629298). Last stage of the inhabited area  is the Santissima Annunziata Church, having been an oratory in the 15th cent., decorated with frescos and with "The Annunciation" by Pietro Aldi.

Once left the village, the layout continues along the "Old Road", directed toward the Farms of Montemerano, but to the height of the Giacomini hamlet we meet a path on the right, that brings to the Cerro spring, realized in the 16th cent. and fed by spring waters. The structure served to the population and the near S. Giovanni romitorio, today completely destroyed. After having visited the spring, we come back and take a road on the right.   
The run is surrounded by plants typical of the sub-mountain wood: roverelle (Quercus pubescens), cedros (Quercus cerris), maples (Acer monspessulanum), rural maples (rural Acer), ciavardello (Sorbus torminalis), etc. Secular oaks are often met, sometimes "attached" from the oak mistletoe (Loranthus europaeus).
On the branches of the trees it is easy to see leaf and fruit bearing lichens, biological indicators, attesting the quality of the air and the water. The brushwood is characterized by cyclamens (Cyclamen hederifolium), violas (smelled Viola), the butchers broom (Ruscus aculeatus), anemones (Anemone hortensis), wild asparagus (Asparagus acutifolius), etc.
Interesting is the presence of the "Lambrusca", or wild grapevine, or, better, "made wild", in fact, from a vinifera sativa Vitis it is born a vinifera sylvestris Vitis. The wine-growing is an important reality in the territory, as testified by the "Party of the Wine cellars" of Manciano, that is held on the occasion of the Holy Crucifix (around September 10).

The traveller can come upon the jay (Garrulus glandarius), or in the colombaccio (Dove palumbus), or to hear the cry of a green woodpecker (Picus viridis). In the hedges and in the thick leafy branches the cinciarelles (Parus caeruleus) are hidden, the titmouses (Parus Major), the wrens (Troglodytes troglodytes), Long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus), etc.
Present, but difficult to see, are the sparrow hawks (Accipiter nisus), the honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus) and other predatory birds, while after the sunset, the owl (Strix aluco). Visitor can meet porcupine stings (Hystrix cristata), traces of wild boar (Sus sow), of roe (Capreolus capreolus), but also of fox (Vulpes vulpes), etc.
The walk reaches, then, the Pianetti provincial road, crossing a splendid village, with ancient farms around, restructured in pleasant agritourisms (Farm La Commenda, phone 0564-625070, 0564-620984; Le  Fabbre Pianetti Farm, oil and wine producer, phone 0564-625116). After this line on the asphalt, the system of signs continues on the left and the run returns to be an absorbed path in the green, that passing near the Saragiolo farm (Saragiolo  phone 0564-602607) and the “Baroncella” (loc. Saragiolo, phone 0564-602837), reaches the village of Montemerano.

Salt road		map
KIND OF ITINERARY:	The path is passable by foot, by horse, MTB
LENGTH	about 15 Km
DURATION:	4-6 hours on foot, 3 in MBT, 3 by horse
HEIGHT DIFFERENCE:	400 m s.l.- 80 m. s.l. (see graphic)
DIFFICULTY:	middle

Salt road is the ancient road crossed by the Benedictines of the S. Salvatore’s abbey to reach the sea, inexhaustible source of salt, essential for foods feeding and the maintenance. Emperor Lotario I in 861 granted, in fact, to the Monks the right to free withdraw the crystals of sodium chloride from the salt pans near the mouth of the Albegna river. They availed of an already existing path of Roman epoch, widening it and studding it of cells and monasteries. The line that interests our itinerary begins from Montemerano, medieval village wound by numerous legends, whose name already appears in a document dating at the year 896.
Traveller enters the historical center through her "Bridge Door" (Porta del Ponte, so denominate because of the presence of a drawbridge, of which no traces are remaining today), referable to the second surrounding walls dating at the year 1407, just after, on the right side, there is a slope, called by local people “piaggetta", to whose summit there is the "Castle Door" (Porta del Castello), entry to the most ancient nucleus of the country and part of the first building circuit, dating at the Middle Ages.
On the Castle Square rises the building that was residence of the Aldobrandeschi Counts, then of the Baschi, subsequently of the vicars of the Siena Republic (under Siena, in 1407, the tower was built) and seat of the Municipality of Montemerano up to the 1783. Continuing toward the left, visitor meets the "Piazzetta del forno", where the ancient oven of the community was probably located, through the Vicolo della Libertà, it arrives instead near the Pieve of S. Lorenzo (12th cent.),  today used by the local pro loco.
The most important monument is of course the S. George’s Church, attested by the 14th cent., characterized by the contrast between the external simplicity and the wealth of works of art at the inside. The walls are, in fact, completely decorated by  painters of the Siena school (15th -16th cent.) representing scenes from the legend of the Saint and the dragon (from here it comes the popular belief about the presence of this mythological creature in the country), besides, a polypticus  of Sano di Pietro dating at the year 1458, a olive wood sculpture, representing St. Piter and the altar in poplar wood, both attributed to the Vecchietta, "the Madonna of the Gattaiola" of an anonymous artist from Montemerano. Out of the church there is the Door of S. George (around 1430), from here, coasting along the fifteenth-century boundaries, the run goes out of the village to continue in an excavated road, located in front of the cemetery.

The path crosses the country of the Maremma and is shaded by roverella oaks (Quercus pubescens), cedros (Quercus cerris), maples (Acer monspessulanum), Jerusalem Thorns (Paliurus thorn-christi), brooms (Sorothamnus scoparius, Spartium junceum), lentiscus (Pistacia lentiscus), blackthorns (thorny Prunus), etc. Wild asparagus (Asparagus acutifolius) and rubias (Rubia wanders) are also present,  the wild oats (fatuous Oats), thistles (Cirsium vulgare, Silybum marianum), anemonis (Anemone hortensis), Fumaria officinalis, etc.
During the journey it is possible to see the pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), the hoopoe (Upupa epops), the jay (Garrulus glandarius), the turtle-(Streptopelia decaocto), the crested lark (Galerida cristata), the skylark (Alauda arvensis) or some track of wild boar (Sus sow) and fallow deer (Dame dame), traces of porcupine (Hystrix cristata), of beech marten (Martes foina), etc.
Along the walk there are farms like “Le Murelle”, whose name comes from the ruins of a Roman villa, today become an agricultural firm, where oil, wine, cheeses, meats and vegetables are produced (agritourism “le Murelle”, loc. Le Murelle, phone 0564-602941), “Poggio Moretto”, where it is possible to purchase oil, vegetables and fruit (agritourism Poggio Moretto, loc. La Sgrilla, Cavallini road, 34, phone 0564-602935), the Hamlet of the Aldi (loc. La Sgrilla, Cavallini road 27,  phone 0564-609198), the agritourism Ponderosa (loc. Cavallini, 50, phone 0564-609213), that, further to the hospitality, deals with the extra-virgin olive oil production, the Cavallini farm (agritourism I Cavallini, loc. Sgrilla, Cavallini road, phone 0564-609008). Probably the latter already existed in the Middle Ages, at the time of the Benedictines, but certain news goes up to the period of the Vallombrosan monastery (18th cent.).

In proximity of this farm the run proceeds to the right as asphalted road crossing the country, cultivated with cereals and pasture. It is not rare to see circling in the air predatory diurnal birds as buzzards (Buteo buteo) Common Kestrels (Bend tinnunculus), or a hare (Lepus europaeus) skipping about in the fields. Here, the ground is made of sandier clays, containing fossils of micro-fauna of the upper Pliocene.
After the second intersection, at the right side, the layout continues and turns again in a mule track and then a vicinal street up to the Spinicci Farm. In the outskirts vicinity there are the agritourisms “Da Lorena” (Farm 359, loc. Spinicci-Marsiliana, phone 0564-606595), “La Tiberia” (210 Spinicci road, loc. Marsiliana, phone 0564-606460), “Da Paola” (loc. 369 Marsiliana, phone 0564-605048), “Casa Egilza” (203 Spinicci street, loc. Marsiliana, phone 0564-606498).

Our itinerary ends on the P.S. n.74, while the "Salt road"  continues through Stachilagi and Marsiliana di Albegna (path that will be realized in a second moment), where two streets opened, both bringing to the sea: one toward Le Saline, near the mouth of the Albegna river, the other, crossing a junction of the ancient Street Clodia, reached Cosa.
The “emergency exit” is made of a cycle run, named “Olivo di S.Pietro”, bringing to the Farms of Montemerano.

Leopoldina Spring, La Stellata and Guinzano		map
KIND OF ITINERARY:	suitable for trekking, MTB and horse-riding walks
LENGTH:	about 8,6 Km
DURATION:	about 5 hours by foot, 3 hours y MBT and by horse
HEIGHT DIFFERENCE:	277 m. s.l.m.-115 m. s.l.m.
DIFFICULTY:	Low

The path begins from Montemerano and precisely in a road in front of the cemetery, the attention of the excursionist immediately is abducted from the stately beauty of the secular olive trees (Olea europaea), surrounding it and testifying the ancient tradition of the olive cultivation, tradition come to our days, thanks to the two crushers: the “Torcular” (phone 0564 -602029) and the “Bianchi-Lusini” (phone 0564-602580).
Along the walk there is the Leopoldina Spring, fed by a spring of spring water, so named because it was restored on the occasion of the visit of the Grand Duke Leopoldo Lorena Asburgo, even if it had a first remaking already in 1588. Near this last there was, up to a year ago, "The Olivo del Drago", a secular tree, where, according to the legend, the princess had been tied up, abducted from the Dragon infesting Montemerano, asking for human sacrifices.
Legend tells hat S. George, returning from the crusades, being in the zone for taking care the wounds in the waters of Saturnia, come to knowledge of this and has made free the young girl and killed the animal. Citizens remember the event every year the, representing the  la “Giostra” of the Dragon, celebrating for three days (23-24-25 April).

Once left the spring, the run continues toward S. Maria del Cavalluzzo, country small church dating at the 15th cent., sets on the ancient customs for they toward Scansano and continouing  in the country, coasting along a small dry wall, delimiting the vineyards and the ulivetis. The wayfarer can here come upon in some lizard (Podarcis muralis), type of lizard (Lacerta viridis) or Green Whip Snake (Coluber viridiflavus), but also in a less harmless viper (Viper aspis).
Around, from the hedges of brambles (Rubus fruticosus), of wild roses (Rosa pimpinellifolia), of blackthorns (thorny Prunus), from the secular farnies (Quercus robur), from the maples (rural Acer, Acer monspessulanum) and from the other plants it is possible to hear the chirruping of the sparrow of Italy (Passer italiae), of the dunnock (Prunella modularis), the Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio), of the Oriental Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris), of the goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), the Serin (Serinus serinus), etc.

The path proceeds absorbed in the country and on the knolls old farms seem to ward them. Under the eaves of these buildings it is easy to find some nests of swallow (rustic Hirundo) and the house martin (Delichon urbica), while on the roofs the cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) repeats its unmistakable verse. Today some of the old hamlets have become agritourisms and modern agricultural firms like the “Podere Ainzara”, where it is possible to buy fruit and vegetables  (agritourism “Podere Ainzara”, phone 0564-602938), or “La Vecchia Quercia”, producing oli and jam (agritourism “La Vecchia Quercia”, loc. Marinella-Romitorio, phone 0564-602007).
At this stage, traveller reaches the P.S. n.322, but the signals continue over the road, crossing the zone named Guinzano, from "guinza", because of the frequent floods, due to the nature of the ground. Here, in fact, there are gray and yellow sandy clays, deposited during the Middle and Lawer Pliocene. Therefore the itinerary is not recommended in rainy seasons.

Coming at the end of the mule track, our excursionist must ford the Stellata, small stream of a grey-blue particular colour, due to the sulfuric water of the Saturnia thermal baths, flowing to the ditch. There is around a vegetation of mend type: reeds, willows (Salix dawn and Salix viminalis), elms (Ulmus carpinifolia), cores (Corylus filbert), etc. Hidden among the plants it is possible to find the common toad (Bufo bufo), the tree frog, but also the turtle (Testudo hermanni) and other small animals. In this zone we find receptive structures like “La Grada” (loc. Guinzano, phone 0564-602971) and “L’Oleandro” (loc. Guinzano, phone 0564-602910).

Tourist has two options: turning to right, to look again at the Stellata and crossing an ancient Roman flagstone road to reach the P.S. n.10 (this junction is "the exit of emergency"), or continuing to the left until the path of the province and reaching Saturnia. In the first case, along the journey there are ancient hamlets, among which the agritourism "Il Poggiolo", vegetables, fruit and wine producer (loc. Polveraio, phone 0564-602981), " Il Capannone ", where it is possible also to practice the horse riding (loc. Pianetti, phone 0564 -602982). They rise on Roman villas of late Repubblican age, tied up to the centurization of the land. In the second street, instead, visitor is surrounded by fields, cultivated with cereals, above which it is not rare to see the Montagu's Harrier (Circus pygargus) and past time also the Red Kite (Milvus milvus) reintroduced in the close valley of the Albegna river,  thanks to the project LIFE NATURA Biarmicus.

Before arriving in the village, there is the agritourism "Il Torrione ", where it is possible to find wine and oil (Loc. Fonte Buia, phone 0564-601012). Immediately out of the walls of the ancient Roman city there is an old source, Fonte Buia, fed by spring water, quoted in documents dating to 1546. We enter north Saturnia, through a passage in the boundaries, where it is found the Door of Fonte Buia. The settlement, according to a Roman historian, constitutes the most ancient settlement in Italy, the archaeological traces tell about inhabitations  from the Bronze Age and about an Etruscan center, whose name was presumably Aurinia, that suffered, around in the 3rd cent. B.C. fires and destructions, caused by the Roman conquest of Vulci,  in 280 a.C. But the main ruins and the actual name of the center date at the Roman period.

Inside, on the right side, there are, englobed in the houses, the remains of the walls of Silla Age,  more ahead in the Aldobrandeschi road there is a pillar with two Doric semi-columns dating at the 1st cent. B.C., referable to a public building. Vittorio Veneto square was the point of intersection of the cardo and the decumanus, from where the subdivision of the small "urbe" into city blocks, today are collected, here, late- Repubblican and Imperial age epigraphs, on which are engraved also Etruscan gentilitian names, but there are also olive oil mills. The squeezing out of the olives is a practice still alive in the land, as testified by the crusher in the Mazzini road (phone 0564-601314). The polygonal boundaries date at the 3rd cent. B.C., when Saturnia was a Praefectura, but were strengthened during the epoch of Silla and restored again under the dominion of Siena (1454 -1464). Also referable to the Romans is the cistern in the Mazzini road, locally named "Bagno secco”, realized in opus cementicium and covered with earthenware. The fortress rose in the 12th century on a castellum aquarum, but the image that we can see today dates at the 1924, when the Ciacci family turned it into a private residence. The most interesting aspect of Saturnia is the Clodia road, an ancient flagstone road, near the Roman Door (15th cent.), that connected the village to the southern Etruria, to Rome and, through a junction, with the Aurelia road. In Plaza Diaz we find the Church of S. Maria Maddalena and inside it the painting of Benvenuto da Giovanni, representing the Holy Virgin with her Child, S. Sebastiano and the Patron Saint (15th cent.). Last  stage is the Archaeological Museum, where are preserved Etruscan and Roman materials (Italy road, phone 0564-601550).

The final destination of our itinerary is therefore Saturnia, through which it passed the Customs (road being part of the transumanza). Already in the 14th cent. the Albegna river, in fact, was the natural border of the third income or time of the Customs of the Paschi of Siena, that is of the zone in which from the day of the "Calla” (counting the livestock), up to January 15, the shepherds of Romagna region and others could graze their flocks. Later (from the 1419), during the fourth time, from January 16 to April 30, they could cross the river and bring the animals in the pastures recently purchased by Siena. Often, these seasonal visitors bought some houses in the village, but it areis in the 18th cent., with the Lorena Gran Duchy, that the lands of the government and of the local communities were sold both to citizens and to the shepherds of the Casentino. Cattle breeding is still an important activity nowadays, so that every year in Saturnia there are demonstrations and events, tied up to the cheese (“Zio Cacio” , the taste of tradition, May).