Terre di Casole Bike Hub - La Via del Sale
In the Terre di Casole Bike Hub join the world of cycling and adventure with experiences, places, and people who live and share a ‘ life style’ where time passes at a slower pace.
Terre di Casole Bike Hub is the first bike hub in Italy, the bike destination in the heart of Tuscany, spread over the municipality of Casole d’Elsa and extending for about 150 square kilometers into the adjacent municipalities of San Gimignano, Volterra, Radicondoli, Monteriggioni, Sovicille and Monticiano.
Terre di Casole Bike Hub provides cycling routes of varying difficulty, but always in evocative sceneries and beautiful landscapes in Tuscany. Two steps away from the Via Francigena and along the permanent route of the Gran Tour della Val di Merse, you can enjoy mountain biking through a highly developed trail network with road bikes, in order to retrace the same routes as the famous Granfondo, Strade Bianche roads and historical competitions. Touring bikes and electric bikes on marked trails and roads with very low traffic volume are suitable for those wishing to visit the Val d’Elsa in slow mode, even with pedal-assisted electric bicycles, stopping at places of cultural, historical and gastronomic interest.
Tour operators, private partners and local administration play an important role at Terre di Casole Bike Hub becoming examples of social and collective values, including:
- quality of life generated by the quality of the environment, food, health, the beauty of art and culture, as well as a peaceful coexistence with people who have the same needs;
- sustainable transport: Casole d’Elsa has an incentive plan for electric cars and bicycles. Electric cars can be already parked in the parking spaces at the bottom of the village, accessing the centre via lifts;
- the role and importance of community: allowing for cultural exchange with all guests in the region;
- the importance of landscape preservation and, as a consequence, the supporting farmers in preserving the traditional landscape.
Casole d’Elsa, a village of the ‘Orange Flag’ of the Italian Touring Club, boasts advanced cardiovascular equipment with ten defibrillators connected to a widespread network of first aid, and is a municipality whose agricultural production is 70% organic.
All participating facilities are equipped with services for cyclists and tour leaders and the region has a network of charging stations and multifunctional benches for wi-fi and e-bike areas, as well as a bike lounge open to all cyclists.
A tailor-made bike-friendly region that offers protected, tracked, and signposted itineraries, ensuring the respect, protection and safety for amateur cyclists, as shown by the road signs installed.
The activities and services offered meet all expectations and desires, ranging from water supplies and basic bike maintenance kits available in all facilities, whether they are restaurants, bars, or farms, to the fast-laundry service offered by selected hotels for the guest who wants to take dip in the pool and resume their normal activities after a few hours of relaxation, or rental equipment and bikes, route tracks and a customised brief upon arrival at the facility.
Activities and experiences in the region may also include moonlight trekking, cooking courses, painting and sculpture courses, herbalist workshops and medicinal plants, beekeeper visits, truffle hunting, cheese-making experiences, hot-air ballooning, falconing, birdwatching, and yoga.
The network and collaboration of experts from different fields allows for an authentic and personalised experience.
Awards and collaborations:
- 2016: A special mention to the Italian Green Road Award
- 2018: Selected by Adventure Travel Trade Association
- 2020: Best Cyclist Tourist Destination for Resorts & Retreats Awards LUX Magazin
Crossed Areas
The profile of the towers of San Gimignano in an early summer sky at nightfall could be the iconic image of this land, but there is lot more to it than searching and finding art jewellers like Colle Val d’Elsa, Monteriggioni and the well-known San Gimignano in Val d’Elsa.
Val d’Elsa is a simple, sweet and fragrant area of Vernaccia; it is a land of hard-working people who have created hills of olive trees and vineyards with their work and have given life to it over centuries and took advantage of what nature had to offer to create paper mills, precious crystals and works of art; it is the birthplace of a ground-breaking genius, Arnolfo di Cambio, an architect, sculptor and painter.
La Val d’Elsa is a gift for those who are not satisfied with travelling in a superficial manner. Moving away from the most popular corners and the ‘postcard views’, you may find yourself on dreamy paths, in a sunny and open countryside, where the hills seem to lull you and the stone of farmhouses, parish churches and small villages welcomes you, invites you to take a break, and asks you to take the time to recover lost time.
Di Siena e della sua armoniosa bellezza, hanno scritto in tanti, in tutti i tempi, ed è difficile inventarsi parole nuove per descriverne il fascino, soprattutto se non si è poeti. L’UNESCO l’ha dichiarata nel 1995 Patrimonio Mondiale dell’Umanità.
José Saramago, scrittore portoghese e premio Nobel, era innamorato della Città e le ha dedicato parole che la descrivono con pennellate di emozione e passione profonde:
“Ed ecco Siena, la beneamata, la città dove il mio cuore si compiace veramente”. “Le tre colline su cui è costruita ne fanno una città dove non esistono due strade uguali, tutte contrarie ad assoggettarsi a qualsiasi geometria”. “Questo meraviglioso colore, il colore del corpo brunito dal sole, ma che è anche il colore della crosta del pane di granturco, questo colore meraviglioso va dalle pietre alla strada e ai tetti, addolcisce la luce del sole e si cancella dal viso le ansie e i timori”.
“Non può esservi nulla di più bello di questa città”. Piazza del Campo “una piazza inclinata e curva come una conchiglia, che i costruttori non vollero spianare ed è rimasta così, come se fosse un grembo”.
“Guardo i vecchi palazzi di Siena, case antichissime dove vorrei poter vivere un giorno, con una finestra tutta mia, affacciata sui tetti color argilla, sulle persiane verdi delle finestre, come nel tentativo di decifrare da dove venga questo segreto che Siena mormora e che io continuerò a sentire, benché non lo capisca, fino alla fine della vita”.