Trail,riding,Maremma,Tuscany,I travel,insurance Trail riding in Maremma Tuscany Italy

Like any American, traveling occasionally is just what I love doing and I bet you share the same stuff with me. But traveling does not mean that you would be safe. Escaping from our job and other stressful activities is just something that w Torres del Paine is among the biggest of Chile’s national parks, occupying almost 600,000 acres (242,000 ha) of land in the south on the border with Argentina. It is also among the most important, receiving a significant proportion of domes

“She won’t eat those,” the guide warned me, as I offered Saba a Polo, before setting off on the first morning. “She prefers dry bread”. I have had horses all my life and as a kid teased many of them with unlikely tidbit. And I have never come across a horse who would spurn a Polo for a piece of bread. But as the mint bit the dust, and Saba wrinkled her lip in disappointment, I made a mental note to sneak something into my bum-bag at breakfast the next day.And so the pattern was set for the week – a morning in the saddle, riding through Tuscany over ancient trails, teetering down vertiginous dried up river beds and cantering through the cypress-spiked scenery usually reserved for the picture books. Usually silent, we would swish through soft swathes of wheat and splash through the silvery River Merse, with Saba making serene progress though intimate sun-dappled forests, bravely cresting steep climbs and cantering ears-pricked through breathtaking wide-open valleys, with the hilltops around us sprinkled with medieval villages like Monticiano or Gerfalco, where the marble used to build Siena cathedral was mined.Then after a picturesque picnic pit-stop, with me sneaking, off we would go again, marveling at the surprises each day brought. Some delights were natural, like the sound of a wild boar thundering away in the bush; the sight of vivid pink cyclamens and creeping flox; spotting an overgrown Etruscan priest’s grave by a stony track in Lagoni and taking an unexpected bath when the horses decided to take a swim in the river.Other delights were man-made, like an encounter with a former international showjumper on the Countess of Luriano’s vast estate, where we watched him exercise first his rare Persano stallion (one of only 50 of the breed left in the world) and then some of his falcons. Watching his graceful birds hover on thermals high above the castle, we were witnessing a scene which had been unchanged for centuries. The same spine-tingling brush with enduring history hit us again in the afternoon, when we hitched up at the awe-inspiring abbey of San Galgano and the medieval chapel of Monte Siepi, where a young knight plunged his sword into a boulder to mark his new life as a religious hermit.On the next day, we rode through the Nature Reserve of Le Cornate e Fosini which is situated between the Provinces of Siena and Grosseto and includes to the north the area surrounding the castle of Fosini, strong-hold of the counts D’Elci at the end of the 14th century, to the south Poggio Mutti and the rise of Le Cornate di Gerfalco. A well-marked track starts from the entrance of the village of Gerfalco and reaches the ridge of Le Cornate, whence you can reach the castle of Fosini or close the loop by going back to Gerfalco by taking the white road that runs along the southern side of the massif.The best time to visit is from April till June for the spectacular blossoming of the Viola Etrusca and of the orchids. In winter, weather permitting, you can enjoy more clear views. The round is quite uneven and in some spots also dangerous, so make sure you wear the right boots. The massif of Le Cornate just exceeds 1000 metres of height and sticks out from the surrounding hills with two very steep slopes that form a narrow, long ridge whence you can enjoy a striking view that embraces, towards the coast, the woody Colline Metallifere, the valleys of the Pecora River and of the Cecina River and, in clear days, the Island of Elba and even the Apuan Alps.Among the interesting geological formations found on Le Cornate, mostly belonging to the Successione Toscana the prevailing ones are the solid limestone and, to a lesser extent, the beautiful ammonitic red limestone. In the area, there are also the ruins of an old silver mine and beautiful specimens of minerals such as fluorite and mossottite have been found. The southern side of Le Cornate is covered by the species of the Mediterranean maquis, by hop hornbeam and by a forestation of black pine dating back to the thirties. Until then, the steep slope was a very degraded pasture, with protruding rock, where only a few scrubby shrubs of holly oak and hard beam survived. To the north, instead, we have unusual vegetation, with the hop hornbeam prevailing, which forms large pure woods, sometimes combined with flowering ash, Montpelier maple and field maple.Too soon the week was over, and it was wagons roll for this tenderfoot and with a saddlebag of memories. I vowed to return one day to discover more of this wonderful quiet region of Maremma Tuscany on horseback. Article Tags: Maremma Tuscany