The route offers many stretches of dirt road and, for its brevity and authenticity, allow you to explore with due calm and with great surprise and pleasure a very significant part of Crete Senesi.
The only real inhabited center is Monteroni d'Arbia, from where we start. The rest, except for the nearby village of Lucignano d'Arbia, consists of pure virgin countryside enriched by groves, lakes and scattered farms inhabited by a few people and many sheep.
The Crete is a unique and «out of this world» landscape, so much so that some travelers who have entered the area on hot, sunny summer days have thought they had arrived on the moon. For a safe trip, therefore, you should use a gravel bike or mountain bike and be equipped with large water bottles. It wouldn't be a bad idea to bring along a whistle to blow. Encounters with people will be few and all of great cordiality. If you find an old farmer or a shepherd, ask him to tell you the story of Gino and Nella from Torre a Castello or of the farmer and his wife from San Martino in Grania; they are instructive but should be told at «noon» in a sunny day or, in the evening, in the «corner of the fireplace» and strictly in the Tuscan language.
Itinerario e Tappe
Soon you're on the lonely Crete road that climbs with double-digit slopes to San Martino in Grania. This is one of the dirt road sections of Strade Bianche route and shows all its raw beauty to those who venture there.
What remains of the small village of San Martino in Grania and its ancient parish church, originally inhabited by 12 nuns of the Benedictine Order, are only ruins together with those of some old buildings. The place is immersed in silence and it is possible to hear only the bleating of the sheep or the barking of the shepherd dogs guarding the flock. These dogs can sometimes get dangerously close to the cyclist who, in this case, must never lose his calm. Also for this reason it is always advisable not to venture alone in places that are not bad but isolated.
The maximum height is reached with 331 meters right at the entrance of Lauretana, one of the historical routes that lead, on one side to Siena and on the other side to Cortona.
The village of Vescona with its small church is just a few steps away towards Asciano but the direction of travel is opposite. So you soon return to taste the dust of the dirt road with magnificent views of the gullies and lakes that adorn them. For those who like to meet a few cottages and, perhaps, a few people, they can do so in Mucigliani and Leonina. The first is an ancient agricultural village destroyed several times and the second is a castle built in the year one thousand and now a farm and a sought after hotel.
A few kilometers back along the Lauretana road and then a detour to the beautiful Medane road which, near the village of Arbia, takes you back to the Crete to reach Barbiano, with a beautiful view of Monte Amiata, and San Fabiano, a stone's throw from Monteroni d'Arbia where the arrival place is safe towards the GATE and a well-deserved rest.