Riding the Metalliferous Hills
A ride through the most authentic heart of the Maremma, where time shifts pace and nature leads the way. You start from the small hamlet of Valpiana, an iron-working village founded in 1377 when the father of San Bernardino da Siena — the famous 15th-century Franciscan preacher — obtained permission to build the first smelting furnaces here. Where the clang of hammers once echoed, only the peaceful silence of the countryside remains today. From here you ride on dirt roads through oak and cork forests, with the scent of scrubland and a landscape that changes at every turn.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
The route runs almost entirely on paved roads with some dirt sections. No particular technical difficulty — suitable for adults and teenagers from 14 years up who are comfortable with the distance. The ride is on e-bikes.
The first stop is Lago dell’Accesa, an unspoiled lake surrounded by holm oak and manna ash forest, with clear water, set among heart-shaped hills. If you want to swim, this is the place.
The ride continues through gentle climbs to Massa Marittima, one of the best-preserved medieval villages in Tuscany and the main gateway to the UNESCO Global Geopark of the Colline Metallifere. Here you will enjoy a lunch break in the lanes of the old town: a light meal at the enoteca, local products paired with wines from the DOC Monteregio di Massa Marittima — a local designation covering reds and whites from the hills around the village — selected by our friend the sommelier Magdy, who knows these vineyards inside out.
In the afternoon, a visit to the village and the Old organ instruments Museum. Then, it’s back on the bikes to Valpiana. The route comes full circle, just like the land you’ve just ridden through: ancient, authentic and hard to forget.
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