Strade di Siena > Walking for a longer life |

Walking for a longer life

The ‘Walking for a Longer Life’ project consists of a network of urban paths and one suburban path developed by the Municipality of Siena in collaboration with the SI Cammina Group and the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences and Neuroscience of the University of Siena, to invite the population and visitors to walk along the stretches of rare beauty that the town can offer.

In particular, these are four ring-route itineraries designed with various levels of difficulty, which enable the walker to make use of available fitness areas, among other things.

The routes, for which the relevant walking times and estimated calories burnt are shown, allow everyone to appreciate the benefits derived from walking regularly, and are connected to each other through a system of secondary paths, which are also mapped.

In ‘Strade di Siena’ we present, in particular, the first of these itineraries that unfolds between the Medici Fortress and the Palace of Diavoli.

Crossed Areas

Many authors have written about Siena and its harmonious beauty throughout history, and it is difficult to invent new words to describe its charm, especially if you are not a poet. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

José Saramago, a Portuguese writer and Nobel Prize winner, fell in love with the city and dedicated words to the town, describing it with brushstrokes of deep emotion and passion:

‘And here is Siena, the beloved, the city where my heart is truly pleased’. ‘The three hills on which it is built make it a town where there are no two identical roads, all of them are bound to no geometry. ‘This wonderful colour, the colour of the burnished body, is also the colour of the cornbread crust, this wonderful colour goes from stones to the road and roofs, softens the sunlight and wipes away anxieties and fears from your face.

‘There is nothing more beautiful than this town’. Piazza del Campo ‘a sloping and curved square like a shell that the builders did not want to pave and it remained so, as if it were a lap’.

‘I look at the old palaces of Siena, ancient houses where I want to live one day, with a window of my own, overlooking the coloured clay roof tiles, over the green shutters of the windows, as if in an attempt to decipher where this secret that Siena murmurs and that I will continue to hear, although I do not understand it, until the end of my life.