Pontassieve Medicea Rafting
Water (and wine!) under the Medici bridge in Pontassieve
River: Sieve
Location: Pontassieve, Valdisieve and Chianti
Itinerary: Medici Pontassieve
Best time: from November to June
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Price: 35€ for adults, 30€ for kids under 12 years old (40 € extended version)
This fun route on the Sieve river, suitable for rafting and kayaking, crosses a picturesque hilly landscape among vineyards, olive groves and cypress trees, allowing you to reach, from the ancient mill of Vico, the city of Pontassieve.
Here rises the Medici bridge, commissioned by Cosimo I in 1555 after a huge flood in the Sieve river destroyed the old bridge in 1548. In charge of the construction were Stefano from San Piero a Ponti and his son Tommaso, whose work was probably based on the designs of Bartolomeo Ammannati.
It was then renovated firstly in 1788, upon the orders of the Granduca Pietro Leopoldo di Lorena when he opened the royal road of Casentino and that for San Godenzo, and secondly around 1950, after the damage caused by the World War Two.
With our rafts, we pass under the bridge and disembark roughly 1 km downstream, at the charming site of the confluence of the Sieve with Arno rivers, at the “Fabrizio De Andrè” Fluvial Park of Pontassieve.
For an excellent lunch, snack or dinner, don’t miss the Bottega di Rosano, where you can enjoy the best food and wine of the Tuscan cuisine (in this area traditions are particularly strong!) and taste excellent red wine from the nearby Rufina, Pomino and Nipozzano wine cellars.
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