Holiday apartment in Pontelungo – Discover churches, river floodplains and trails

Between river floodplains and historic churches

Pontelungo brings together historic churches, trails through the countryside and the broad floodplain of the Ombrone. There are also pilgrimage and hiking routes connecting Pontelungo with a variety of destinations and landscapes. The trails extend from the river area up to the slopes of Montalbano.

Planning your journey with bus route 76

For orientation when planning your journey, bus route 76 operated by Autolinee Toscane is a useful reference point. It is designated Pistoia FS–Pontelungo–Ramini–Case Soldi and includes the PONTELUNGO Ombrone and PONTELUNGO stops. Both stops explicitly include Pontelungo in their names.

The Cammino di San Jacopo around Pontelungo

The Pistoia–Serravalle section of the Cammino di San Jacopo begins in Pontelungo and leads to the Convento di Giaccherino. Another route of the Cammino di San Jacopo leads down into the valley as far as the Torrente Vincio di Montagnana and then back around the hill to Pontelungo.

Trails between the Ombrone and Montalbano

The Romea Strata also shapes the area's network of routes. It reaches the entrance to Pontelungo, where it meets the Ombrone Pistoiese river again. At this entrance, it turns left towards the slopes of Montalbano and leads to the Church of Santi Pietro e Girolamo in Collina. After a few kilometres, the Romea Strata climbs through the forests, vineyards and olive groves of the Montalbano hills. Along a single route, this allows the river landscape, cultivated countryside and hill country to be experienced as distinct impressions.

Churches bearing different historical traces

San Piero in Vincio was mentioned in a document from 1185 as S. Petri Vico Petrosi. In the 13th century, the church belonged to the Pieve di Groppoli. The present-day Church of San Piero in Vincio was built in 1645. S. Pancrazio a Celle was rebuilt in the 18th century and preserves traces of Romanesque architectural structures. It is regarded as the church in the Pistoia area with the earliest documentary evidence.

A more recent architectural layer is represented by the present-day Church of Santi Pietro e Girolamo: it was built in the 1990s to a design by architect Giovanni Michelucci. Together with the older churches, it places different historical and architectural layers side by side.

The Ombrone floodplain and Vincio Valley

An environmental trail runs within the right and left river embankments and floodplains from Pontelungo to Gello. In this section, the broad Ombrone floodplain has dense riverside vegetation and birdlife that partly resembles that of typical wetlands south of the plain. Peaceful opportunities for observing nature complement the longer route there. On a hill separating the Vincio Valley from the Ombrone Valley, there is also the small Romanesque church of Pieve di San Michele a Broccoli.

For further orientation in the surrounding area, you can also visit Sammommè, Bottegone, Arcigliano, Ponte Nuovo, Piteccio, Cireglio, Sarripoli and Santomato.

For the broader travel overview: Pistoia.