Horseback Riding Route through Livorno Hills Park

Point of departure: The small cistern at Pian di Rota (the gate of the Livorno Hills Park)
Point of arrival: Valle Benedetta
Travelling time: 3-4 hours
Distance: 16 km approx.
Type of road: Dirt road with a stretch of path

THE ROUTE

The ride begins at Pian di Rota, right in front of the water cistern redesigned and built by the architect Poccianti in 1827. The neo-classical building was used as a cistern and filter for water flowing from the Leopoldian Aqueduct at Colognoleto (the town center) to Piazza Guerrazzi, where the other small cistern can be found. 

The Horseback Trail begins by taking an avenue lined with domestic pines which follows the line of the Leopold Aqueduct, an important hydraulic work about 18km long designed by the engineers Salvetti and Poccianti (1794-1824). At the end of the avenue you cross an asphalt road and take a track through the scrub which runs parallel to the aqueduct itself for about 4km. Along the track a first span of the arches of the aqueduct can be seen, and then a series of inspection wells.

Moving away from the aqueduct, the track continues for 500 meters to the ford of a stream and then becomes a cart-track. Going up a slight incline surrounded by Mediterranean scrub, you reach a target shooting range near a big quarry.

After about a one and a half hour ride, the first scenic view over the city of Livorno, the coast and the islands of the Tuscan Archipelago opens up. You go around the side of a barrier and down a slight slope to a clearly visible crossing where you continue to descend gently as far as Villa Cristina, the recently renovated former site of the State Forestry Corps. Continue as far as the sign indicating the Eremo della Sambuca (Sambuca Hermitage). This detour takes about 15 minutes and is recommended for a look at the “ice houses”, the wells where ice was preserved until the beginning of the 20th century. The Eremo della Sambuca is surrounded by a mesophyll wood and was erected around the end of the XII century by Augustinian monks who chose this site for its tranquility.

Returning to the Horseback Trail, the road continues uninterrupted and without problems of direction as far as the Valle Benedetta. There are many scenic views of the coast to be seen along this stretch. The Valle Benedetta church, dedicated to Saints Cosmo and Damien houses a beautifully-made wooden organ dating to the XVI century, when it was the chapel of the great Nugola farm.

Possible circular ride:
On the first part of the Horseback Trail, it is possible to do a circular day-ride leaving from and returning to Cisternino at Pian di Rota. Leaving the nineteenth-century aqueduct behind and heading towards the town (in the opposite direction to the tree-lined avenue of the Horseback Trail), at first you ride along a gravel road past the arches of the Leopoldian aqueduct, then near an inspection well, turn left onto an old unused asphalt road, continue past two horse riding clubs (Associazione Ippica Limone on the left, Associazione Ippica Livornese on the right).

At a large crossroads, turn left, following the avenue lined with pine trees and ford the Rio Puzzolente (alternatively the stream can be crossed on a wooden bridge), continuing to the right along the road commonly known as the “orchard road” and ford the stream again. Shortly after, you leave the cart-track and, after going around a barrier, continue along the path which leads into a wood of holm oaks. The trail now starts to climb and continues through the scrub as far as a shrine topped with a cross, where it re-joins the Horseback Trail. Complete the circle by turning left along the cart-track back to the small cistern.