Hiking along the Via degli acquedotti

Activities included

• overnight stay in a standard double room in a bed & breakfast in Capannori (1 night)
• breakfast

Not included in the program

• walking tour with an environmental guide
• anything not mentioned under "activities included"

Art Gallery bed & breakfast, Via Della Boccaccia 85 in Vorno, Capannori (LU)

Sportswear with long pants and closed shoes is recommended.
Upon request, for an extra fee, it is possible to do the hike accompanied by an environmental guide.

Starting from € 50 per person (min 2)

The Art Gallery Bed & Breakfast in Vorno in Capannori will open its doors for you to enjoy a pleasant stay in the countryside of Lucca. Vorno is a small village at the beginning of the Pisan mountains between Lucca and Pisa. In the area, in addition to some restaurants that will satisfy your taste buds, there are several trails including the famous Via degli acquedotti. This is a trekking route that, following the water route and skirting the Nottolini aqueduct on the Lucca side and the Medici aqueduct on the Pisa side, connects Lucca to Pisa.

During your stay, you can then carry out this beautiful trail on your own or, if you prefer, in the company of an environmental guide.

Itinerary
Day 1
Arrival and accommodation in Capannori.
Possibility of doing the Via degli acquedotti in its entirety or even just one of the two planned stages.
1st stage
The itinerary starts from the Piazza del Duomo in Lucca, then exits the majestic city walls and, through the railway station underpass, reaches the temple-cistern of San Concordio. From here begins the trail that faithfully follows the arches of the aqueduct and gradually takes you from the city environment to green cultivated countryside. The spectacular Nottolini arches end at the locality of Guamo, where you will be confronted with a neoclassical-style building similar to the San Concordio one. It is the small temple-cistern where the water flowed before being conveyed into the two overhead pipes. The path of the aqueduct becomes buried, but it is still easy to spot it due to the presence of the brick filter wells. You will soon reach the location known as "Alle parole d'oro," a place where water from the Serra Vespaiata is collected. Here begins a somewhat more strenuous section: you will have to tackle the 2 kilometers of ascent leading to Gallonzora, a scenic location overlooking the Plain of Lucca. After this last effort, the descent to the beautiful village of Vorno will begin.

2nd stage
Once you leave the village of Vorno you will face the climbs that, first along the paved road and then along beautiful scenic trails, lead up to the saddle of the Campo di Croce pass. From the saddle the descent through the holm oak forests of the Pisan side will begin. The trail loses altitude, gentle at first, then becomes steeper until you reach the locality Scarpa d'Orlando, where you will encounter one of the many intakes of the springs that feed the Medici Aqueduct of Pisa. Much older than its Lucca "twin," this waterworks was commissioned in the late 1500s by Ferdinando I de' Medici, inaugurated in 1613 by his son Cosimo and remained active for about three centuries, until the early decades of the 1900s. Follow the underground conduit that leads to the Cisternone, the large building used to accumulate and decant water, on which the six balls, an unmistakable symbol of the Medici family, stand out. Another short downhill stretch will take you among the houses of Asciano, where you will take the bicycle/pedestrian path that faithfully follows the aqueduct's 4 kilometers of straight route to its end, in Piazza delle Gondole, now within the ancient city walls of Pisa.

Day 2
Breakfast and departure.