Monte Amiata
Only 30 km from San Casciano, this majestic volcano which has been sleeping for 200,000 years provides fine walks among its chestnut and beech woods and also transport facilities to reach winter sports activities.
A visit to Mount Amiata should include a stay in the village of Abbadia San Salvatore to visit the wonderful abbey founded in the Longobard era and later famous after Charlemagne spent some days there on his way to Rome where Pope Leo III would give him the title of Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Its Mining Museum is also interesting in that it preserves the memory of generations of men who worked in tunnels to extract from the entrails of the mountain the mineral cinabrum from which mercury is obtained.
