Ponte d'Arbia is at the center of the Francigena route and, with its small hostel, is the ideal place to get your bearings along the stretch that allows you to get to know the hidden corners of Val d'Arbia. If you find yourself in difficulty with your legs or your head, or do not trust your GPS, ask for Italo, the cultured Charon of Arbia, and every problem will be solved.
We move immediately by crossing the bridge over the Arbia River along the Cassia road, just as Archbishop Sigerico did many years ago. The legend, but with serious historical foundations, tells that in 1313 a friar of the Buonconvento convent poisoned Henry VII of Luxembourg, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, during communion.
Since then, referring to the village of Valdarbia, people like to say: «Good convent but bad friars». From Serravalle, where the emperor Henry VII died, you take the Francigena route heading north and then go back south along the Cassia and turn back towards Monteroni on a nice and easy dirt road to finally reach the GATE of the village from Poggio Cipressino.

Resume the route to find Cuna, an ancient medieval town where there was a large hospital for the hospitality of pilgrims and merchants passing along the Francigena. Today you can admire the church and the Grancia, one of the best preserved fortified farms in Siena.
Leaving Cuna we continue towards Ponte a Tressa and then, further inland, we reach Radi, a solitary agricultural village of very ancient imprint, first Etruscan and then Roman and finally medieval. From the nearby Campriano, with its beautiful church and castle, you can admire a vast panorama, from Crete to Val d'Orcia and the Amiata as far as the profile of Chianti.
The GATE of Vescovado can be reached by a quite challenging road. We are in the middle of the Etruscan area and we can admire the remains of the settlement of Poggio Civitate and the famous Antiquarium of Murlo.

From Vescovado we take a nice asphalted road towards Buonconvento to follow, after a few kilometers, the dirt road that leads to the farm of Piana which is now a brick villa and once an imposing fortified building with medieval grange. You can easily return to Ponte d'Arbia, always following the dirt road of Francigena.