Podere San Martino stands in what can be considered
one of the last truly wilderness areas in Tuscany where one can encounter boar,
deer, porcupines, hedgehogs and hear the songs of cuckoo, upapa, thrushes and blackbirds, the cries of falcons, hawks and in the evening the nightingale.
Parco degli Etruschi - Parco Faunistico del Monte Amiata.
The Monte Labbro Natural Reserve is a 15 minute drive from San Martino where you can hike and observe wolves, deer and falcons.Hiking and mountain bike
For lovers of hiking and mountain biking there are many
beautiful trails through the unspoiled natural mountain setting;
“A recent
network of trails crisscrosses Amiata, uniting the mountain towns between
themselves and the peak, and allowing the gathering together of an
extraordinary natural and cultural patrimony. At the same time, this network
links up with the principle routes which pass through the rest of the Sienese
and Grosseto provinces, underscoring the centrality of southern Tuscany, and
lending a regional scope to the existing system of trails. The trails stretch
to about 215 Km/134 miles, divided into two main routes linked to the great
ring around the volcanic cone, for a total of 19 main trails which include
surrounding paths.”
For trail maps
visit:
Abbey of Sant'Antimo
The
original Benedictine monastery dating to the time of Charlemagne (742-814) is 15 - 20 minutes from San Martino and approximately
10 km from Montalcino about 9 km from the Via Francigena, the pilgrim route to Rome.
Thermal spas
San Martino is a short distance from the historic and cultural
heritage sites of interest such as Pienza, Montalcino, San Quirico d'Orcia,
Montepulciano and many exclusive thermal spas (terme) as well as hot springs open
to the public without charge, such as Bagni S. Filippo, Bagno Vignoni,
Petriolo and Saturnia.
Bagni di San Fillippo
Terme di Bagno Vignoni
Terme di Petriolo
Terme di Saturnia
http://www.termedisaturnia.it/en/
Sculpture Garden of Daniel Spoerri
For contemporary art lovers, San Martino faces the
Sculpture Garden of Daniel Spoerri, one of the cofounders of the Nouveau
réalisme (New realism) artistic movement founded in 1960 with the art critic
Pierre Restany and the painter Yves Klein. The Garden contains sculptures by the
leading artists of the Nouveau réalisme and Fluxis movements, such as Armand,
Jean Tinguely, Eva Aeppli and Dieter Roth as well as works by many younger
contemporary artists. The Spoerri Sculpture Garden is a 2 minute drive or 15 minute walk from Podere San Martino.
