Length: 4.4 km; time (roundtrip): about 3 hours; difference in elevation: about 170 m; difficulty: easy hike. Indications: CAI path no. 17; mountain rescue: tel. 055-868959.
Start: From
Castagno d'Andrea you reach (possible by car)
Fonte del Borbotto (1205 m above sea level), an ideal place to fill your water bottle; equipped also for barbeque. After the fountain, a short distance on the right, begins the CAI path no. 17 which crosses a lovely beech forest. After 1.2 km, you reach the
Varco delle Crocicchie (1406 m), an ideal place for stargazing. At this point, you cross the CAI path 00. Go downhill (path 17) and after a short distance you’ll meet up with a gravel road coming from the Fattoria di Pantenna farm. Continue toward the left and after a few hundred metres you’ll reach a meadow, and from there, the
Capo d'Arno (the headwaters of the Arno) (1372 m). This is our point of arrival, but the point of departure for the 241 kilometres of the most important river in Tuscany. On the rock from which the cool, limpid water drips, you can read the verses by
Dante Alighieri dedicated to the “fiumicel che nasce in Falterona” (stream that is born in Falterona) and that “per mezza Toscana si spazia” (through half of Tuscany flows). Nearby, you can visit the Lago degli Idoli, the lake where in the 19th century numerous bronze Etruscan statues were found.
To return, follow the route above in the opposite direction.