Bramasole

The Agriturismo Bramasole e Ginestra is situated half way between Pisa and Florence (and it is also in central position amongst the other famous Tuscan cities, like Siena, Volterra, Lucca, San Gimignano) and within the medieval frame of the village called Montopoli Val d'Arno.
In Montopoli the ancient Parish Church of Santo Stefano, the Pian della Rocca, as well as the Renaissance Oratory of S. Maria del Soccorso and the walking path down the town walls, are well worth to be visited.
Here in Montopoli the ancient tradition of the Artistic Ceramics (decorated earthenware) of Montopoli is still alive.

Thanks to the speedway (superstrada FI-PI-LI) down in the valley, 5 kilometers far from our hills, you will be able to easily reach almost all Tuscan cities within one hour drive (except Grosseto and Arezzo, where it takes about 2 hours to get).
By the same way, or through countryside itineraries, less than twenty minutes time are enough to reach “minor” but equally interesting places from the point of view of landscape suggestions and cultural and artistic resources: San Miniato al Tedesco, with its Diocesan Museum, the white truffle, the Tower of Frederic and the Bacino di Roffia, which often houses national boat-racing; the Padùle of Fucecchio, one of the most beautiful protected inland swamp areas; Vinci, with its Museo Leonardiano; Montelupo Fiorentino , which houses an important museum of Renaissance ceramics works; Empoli; Artimino, with its Medici villas.

Travelling towards Pisa: the wonderful Certosa of Calci; the Lari Castle; the ancient village Palaia and the now almost “ghosty” village Toiano alle Brota, a surreal environment suspended over clayey chasms (called calanchi), into the perhaps quietest hilly countryside of Tuscany, from which one can see and easily reach the city of Volterra.

Other possible itineraries: along the Via Francigena (on its way to San Gimignano), at about twenty kilometers from our Agriturismo, we meet the extraordinary “Jerusalem” in San Vivaldo: immersed in a hilly wood, in the early sixteenth century the Franciscan Friars built about twenty large chapels all around their convent, together with a series of large terracottas showing the most important sacred events, with the intention of reproducing the main places of the Holy City: a true jewel, from an urbanistic point of view as well as from the Renaissance artistic one.

This territory has been continuously inhabited since the Etruscan time: almost all villages of the surrounding hills, which we consider medieval ones, practically already existed in more ancient times and it is not a rare event, therefore, to come to find Etruscan tombs, small necropolis and archeological excavations accessible for visiting.
Further information: supermarkets, the railway station and other useful main shops and services can be easily reached at about 6 Kms. from the Agriturismo.
 

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