A1 – San Rabano

The path

We start by crossing the Grand Ducal pine forest, an extremely pleasant flat walk on the soft and undulating terrain of ancient sand dunes, in an undergrowth of large mastic and juniper bushes that alternate with small clearings. Here, in addition to many birds, foxes, porcupines, deer and wild boars live, whose footprints can be seen almost everywhere.

You arrive at the turtle bridge, which crosses the Scoglietto canal, now transformed into a long and narrow swamp. The caves that lie beyond the canal were dug out by the sea which reached here until a few centuries ago. The path now climbs the ancient cliff overlooking the sea in a low scrub of rosemary, mastic, holm oak, cistus, and in a few minutes you arrive high enough to overlook the green "sea" of the crowns of the immense pine forest, beyond which there It's the real sea, with the islands of the Tuscan archipelago. Once you reach the ridge, continue on a wide, flat path, between two walls of low scrub of holm oak and heather, up to the small Precoriale pond, then into an ancient cork grove and a high holm oak forest until you meet the road of olive trees, which you follow for a short stretch up to Pratini, where there is a splendid olive grove.

Here begins the most physically demanding route, which climbs steeply first through low scrubland, then into a wetter valley between tall holm oaks. The effort is soon rewarded by a splendid panorama up to the Ombrone, with the pine forest, the Collelungo tower and the sea. The path continues first flat and then slightly uphill, with increasingly wider panoramic views towards the north, up to Castiglione della Pescaia and the promontory of Punta Ala. You then enter a thick patch of holm oak, between areas of ancient charcoal pits, climbing more calmly to the summit of Poggio I Lecci (414 m), crowned with centuries-old holm oaks. From here, a short and pleasant descent into the woods finally leads to the ruins of the ancient San Rabano abbey.

We set off again on a flat path, soon meeting two terraces from which you can enjoy spectacular views over the entire coast of this part of Tuscany. From here the path begins to descend gently to the large spring (now dry) which once fed the abbey, then a steeper descent, but in a wetter valley and under a beautiful holm oak forest, takes us to the splendid monumental olive grove of Collelungo, one of the oldest in Tuscany. We cross it and find the road of the olive trees, which takes us to the Collelungo roundabout and the beach bicycle parking, immediately behind the dune.

From here we take the path that runs along the Scoglietto canal, one of the few points in the Park where there is water all year round, and therefore a particular abundance of animal and plant life. Thus we return to the turtle bridge, and through the pine forest to the Pinottolaio.