Cycling the Via Francigena in Tuscany with children
I’ve been cycling the Via Francigena off-road a week at a time over the last few years and since I’d reached Tuscany I thought I’d convince the rest of the family to come along for the ride. We adventured from Pisa to Siena over 6 days following much of the walking path. Our main findings:
Tuscany is hilly, continually up and down with very steep slopes. When following the walking path some of these aren’t possible to cycle unless you’re a pro mountain biker. There’ll be some/a lot of pushing if you’re with children; it was hard work at times pushing two bikes up >10% slopes while the youngest walked. My bet is that the final 200m into Monteriggioni is the steepest part of all the cyclable Via Francigena (including Grand St Bernard which I had to do on the road... off-road wasn't cyclable for average humans over the last 9km).
There are portions of this trip e.g. Lucca-San Miniato, the last few km into Siena and a few other places where you’re on roads that are far too busy and narrow for fun cycling with children. If you can find a way, and I don’t think there is, then avoid them. Like many other countries, Italian drivers are fast, unforgiving and drive too close to cyclists (usually because the cycling infrastructure in Italy is poor). We would not do many of these bits a second time with children: take a holiday in Denmark instead!
The portions on the gravel tracks are sublime fun (especially going downhill). There’s a few prolonged sections with amazing views (e.g. San Miniato - Gambassi Terme, Gambassi Terme - San Gimignano).
Early starts are a must: it was often over 36 degrees by afternoon. The “walls” of Lucca and the mist in the valleys near San Miniato are amazing early on. We had plenty of water, and made sure to use added electrolytes as soon as we started sweating. Cycling creates its own wind so the high temps aren’t always such an issue but since we were often pushing up slopes, we did need to be extra careful. One bit that stood out however was the lack of water between San Miniato and Gambassi Terme: we ended up knocking on the door of the olive oil “refinery” at Coiano to find some.
We did a portion of the VF cycle route (when the temps got so high, and we were tired of pushing up hills) between Poggibonsi and Colle Val d’Elsa. It’s on an old railway line and is wonderful shaded flat gravel through beautiful countryside for around 8km. Well worth walking too if you’re looking for an easier route one day.
Taking bikes along the river walk in Colle Val d’Elsa is possible but tough. I wouldn’t do it with big pannier style bikes, but with lightly loaded gravel bikes or similar is quite doable if you’re good to carry the bike across irregular stepping stones and up/down a few sets of steep steps. It’s a hugely rewarding route, and a great place to cool off in hot weather.
San Gimignano… what can I say… it’s the most awe-inspiring beautiful town/village on the trip and yet a horrific tourist trap during summer. If you don’t like crowds I would guess the only worthwhile time to visit would be very early morning or well “out of season”.
I’d definitely try a similar tour again with children, just being more careful to find better routes on some of the really bad roads (although sadly this isn’t always possible in Italy).
