From Colle di Val d’Elsa you head south, meeting the towns of Quartaia and Boscona, and, at the 8th kilometer, you detour towards Mulino delle Vene in Onci. This stretch belongs to the Via Francigena and allows you to get to know with the most preserved testimonies of the industrial history of Colle such as the Mulino delle Vene, already active in 1200, the paper mill and, not far away, the Calcinaia Mill and an old wash house. After Gracciano, you will find the ancient Etruscan-Roman Baths called Le Caldane. Paths surround the River Park, consenting to see the Callone Reale, the great “steccaia”, the Gora Maestra that  reaches the inside of the city. The route now goes east and, after passing the fraction of Scarna and the provincial road, allows you to meet two unexpected and, in a way, unsettling lakes situated between the waters of Elsa and Staggia: the Scuro and the Chiaro lakes, also known as Sant’Antonio. If the small Nero lake “conceals the darkness”, the Sant’Antonio lake does not seem to have a lakebed, since no one has ever managed to find one. A mysterious lake where the Ludicium Aquaticum was practiced around 1600, consisting in plunging into the lake women accused of being witches to verify their true identity. Perhaps it is worth heading towards Staggia where the end of the stage is located, right near the imposing Rocca.

After leaving Staggia, with the mysterious lakes still in mind, you take a dirt road along the Cassia heading towards Poggibonsi, where the first historical encounter, by the Staggia river, is made with the Magione castle, ancient Templar headquarters and defined as "the most complete hospital complex remaining in Western Europe". Poggibonsi Alta offers the most relevant historical testimonies: the Fortezza di Poggio Imperiale, the Archeodrome, the convent of San Lucchese and the Badia castle watch over the city’s industrial development with a dubious eye. And the waters? The Fair Spring, an ancient monument of the thirteenth century, takes away any thirst for knowledge you have left and, because of its particular structure of a medieval public fountain, evokes big curiosity, also fueled by its name, attributed to the popular belief that its waters were a place inhabited by mysterious creatures like fairies. From Poggibonsi to Colle the journey is short and easy, partly following the cycle path realized on the stretches of the old railway. But the trip might not end in Colle for those who, in the urban perimeter, are still looking for gore, fountains and ancient paper mills. A great idea could be the one to discover where the “Fonte del Sorriso” can be found.