Fiesole to Lucca: Tuscany on foot - Country walks and Renaissance art

Fly at c. 8.30am from London Heathrow to Pisa (British Airways). Villa La Pietra was built in the 15th century by Francesco Sassetti, manager of the Medici Bank, and owned and embellished last century by aesthete and historian Sir Harold Acton. Tour the magnificent garden and visit the villa’s interior. Drive to the hotel in Fiesole for the first of three nights.

Visit Fiesole’s cathedral and then, after an initial steep climb, enjoy an easy walk through the town to Monte Ceceri on small roads and woodland paths, passing stone quarries where Leonardo launched his flying machines (c. 4.5 km, 1 3/4 hours). Walk the old road to the convent of San Domenico where Fra’ Angelico first worked, and see his altarpiece there.

A moderate morning walk from Passo Alberaccio, on mainly undulating farm tracks and chalky paths, but with some short road stretches, with fine views of Florence. (c. 7.5 km, 2 1/2 hours). Villa Gamberaia is one of the most perfect examples of garden art, 18th- and late 19thcentury with a formal water garden and high hedges. Drive to Pian de’ Giullari for lunch. Overlooking Florence, San Miniato al Monte is a splendid Romanesque basilica with a superb Early Renaissance Chapel.

Visit Villa Medici, built in the 15th century and subsequently home to Sibyl Cutting and Iris Origo, and Villa Le Balze, where Cecil Pinsent designed a series of green ‘rooms’ which cling to a steep slope. The exceptionally attractive town of Pistoia has important sculpture including the pulpit in Sant’Andrea by Giovanni Pisano, one of the finest Gothic ensembles south of the Alps, and a silver altarpiece in the cathedral, the product of 150 years’ workmanship. First of four nights in Lucca.

San Martino is a Romanesque cathedral with the exquisite Gothic effigy of Ilaria del Carretto. Drive mid-morning to Matraia to begin a short but moderate walk through the olive groves (2.5 km, 30 mins). Lunch and olive-oil tasting at a farm overlooking the hillside. An easier walk follows, on country paths and lanes beside some of Lucca’s finest summer retreats. An initial steep descent to Marlia requires walking poles (c. 5 km, 1 hour). Visit the 15th-century Villa Oliva, once owned by the powerful Buonvisi family.

Pietrasanta is famous for its skilled marble workers; visit a workshop where classical and contemporary works are produced using methods unchanged since the Middle Ages. A moderate walk on footpaths and country roads through the villages of Sant’Andrea di Compito and San Giusto di Compito (c. 4 km, 1½ hours).

Drive to Camigliano to begin a moderate country walk on grassy paths and lanes to Sant’Andrea in Caprile (6 km of which 3.5 km is steadily uphill, 2 hours). Lunch before visiting Villa Torrigiani and its garden. Dating back to the 16th century when it was owned by the Buonvisi family, the garden was transformed in the late 17th century by Niccolao Santini, the Lucchese ambassador to Louis XIV. Return to Lucca for a wine tasting followed by dinner.

Fly from Pisa to London Heathrow, arriving c. 2.00pm.