MOUNT AMIATA

Enchanted mountain, the ancient volcano stands proud and solitary as the"guardian" of the southern part of Tuscany.

With a conical, partially irregular shape, the Amiata changes its appearance depending on the position from which you look. It is however a point of reference in the horizon of Maremma, Val d'Orcia, Val di Paglia and Colline del Fiora.

Countless springs gush out on its slopes, including those of the Fiora, Albegna, Vivo and Paglia rivers. But walking through its woods it is easy to come across the gushing of clear waters of streams and streams.

From the slopes to the top, the vegetation is a succession of vineyards, olive groves, oak woods and then chestnut and beech trees going up. Ecosystems example of symbiosis between an overbearing nature and human stubbornness. Perhaps nowhere as on the Amiata generation of woodcutters, miners, carbonari and peasants have influenced the landscape permeating it to the needs of the population, without being able to affect the charm of a magical, apparently wild, almost mystical environment.

For the Etruscans it was the sacred mountain, where their main deity Tinia lived, from whom according to some historians the old volcano would take its name.

In the past, Amiata was also a land of mercury mines, diatomaceous earth quarries("Moon Milk" for the ancients) and tannin production. Today it is home to winter sports tourism, as well as ideal for trekking and cycling in every season, because it is capable of giving the most attentive visitors the magic of its ever-changing colors.

The writer loves autumn in particular, when the mountains offer warm yellow, red and orange tones which, under the increasingly weaker sun, tend to brown the arrival of winter. Then autumn is the season in which the Amiata gives its most precious fruits: chestnuts, mushrooms, olives and grapes. Products resulting from a millenary history of exaltation of biodiversity that become symbols of the territory and its people.

A"crown" of small villages of medieval origin surrounds the cone of the mountain. Rich in history, art and culture, they are inhabited by a population characterized by a historical trait of pride and a deep bond with its land. And it is also in those villages that the visitor can take the opportunity to taste the typical food and wine specialties of the area.

Monte Amiata is, as already mentioned, a special place where an environment still permeated by intact nature and a millenary human action of adaptation are in balance. It is the ideal place for those who dream of escaping from a hectic lifestyle and want to grasp the material and inner secrets of the Magic Mountain with open eyes and pricked ears.