From Bologna to Florence, 140 km of gods, hills, history and delicious trattorias
There are so many gods on the Via degli Dèi - Adonis, Venus, Jupiter, Luario - but even more are the hills between Bologna and Florence, and the encounters, and the dips in silence. From Piazza Maggiore to Piazza della Signoria is 140 kilometres; five, six or seven stages, depending on how far your legs go. It starts from Piazza Maggiore, to take the credential and watch with Lucio Dalla 'the lovers in Piazza Grande / Of their troubles, of their loves all I know, wrong and not'. Immediately an ascent to the Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of San Luca and from up there a first taste of sweetness and green sea.
Sasso Marconi, memory of Enzo Biagi: "Freedom is like poetry: it must not have adjectives, it is freedom", gives way to the placid Reno and Badolo to arrive in Brento, at the foot of Monte Adone, an icon of the walk. The climb is not tiring but the day has been more than 30 km long and the view from up there repays everything, like the tagliatelle at the Vecchia Trattoria Monte Adone or a stop at the B&b da Mara, with all its advice. Again up and down towards Monzuno, where we meet Paolo and five foreign friends. They come from all over Europe, have studied medicine in Ljubljana for an Erasmus year and are on the road: their story would be enough to tell how united Europe is in spite of everything. Then come the majestic woods of chestnut and oak trees, the small villages leading to Madonna dei Fornelli. And it feels like walking among the words of Emiliano Cribari, from his Soltanto d'estate. A journey among beloved, lost and forgotten houses (Bottega Errante): 'I have seen the most beautiful houses up here. Poor and proud, elegant and dry: born of the fog of need. The Apennines is a human mountain. Lived, sown, fought; loved and suffered; abandoned'. True, abandoned, but the Via degli Dèi has brought wealth and life: in the last 7-8 years, 70 new structures have sprung up and it is estimated that the allied industries are worth more than 12 million (excluding Bologna and Florence).
About fifteen years ago, the municipality of Sasso Marconi realised the potential, issued a call for tenders and since then Appennino Slow has been managing the path, giving it space and raising awareness among the inhabitants. 'At the end of 2025,' says Stefano Lorenzi, whom everyone calls 'the grandfather' of the Via due to his long militancy, 'we aim to exceed 24,000 presences and only the Lucca-Siena stretch of the Francigena has similar numbers in Italy. Above all, we are the first walk in the world to obtain the Gstc certification, Global Sustainable Tourism Council for sustainable development'. How far we have come since that first intuition of Domenico Manaresi, who with his university students had founded the association Dû pâs e 'na gran magnè, to find a way to Florence to eat the Florentine steak.
That route is there today, and it is history to walk: the Via Flaminia Militare built in 187 BC and rediscovered by the stubbornness of Cesare Agostini and Franco Santi passed through here. After the Futa Pass and the Germanic Military Cemetery with more than 30,000 boys who died on the Gothic Line, stop at the B&b Podere Belvedere for a fragrant tagliata. The beech forests glisten with the gold of autumn and, after Sant'Agata (stop at Matteo's Osteriola: the pasta dishes and porcini mushrooms are fabulous), the cypress trees frame the going: "This is real Tuscany," says Ian from Glasgow. In San Piero a Sieve, Franco and Monica of the B&b La Pieve are charming hosts. They suggest the Fortezza Medicea, the Castello del Trebbio. And then, towards the sanctuary of Monte Senario, it is a balance of silence, gentleness and amazement that surprises the group on the way, two aspiring doctors, a biomedical engineer, a tattoo artist, two retired grandparents, a heritage student, an anatomist, a yoga teacher. After Bivigliano, Brunelleschi's dome appears for the first time and, from Fiesole, it feels like touching it. Another 10 km to Piazza della Signoria with eyes full of enchantment and a heart that sings Francesco Guccini: 'Si alzza sempre lenta come un'un tempo l'alba magica in collina'. It is a sweet certainty with which to return home.
