Attractions and Places To See around Empoli - Top 20

Piazza dei Guidi, designed by Mimmo Paladino in 2006, reorganizes the urban space with stone slabs arranged in a geometric grid. The surfaces are engraved with motifs typical of his artistic universe, recalling symbols and archetypes. The work seeks to create a dialogue between contemporary and traditional, transforming the square into a place of reflection and encounter, where everyday space also becomes an aesthetic experience.

In Piazza Guido Masi, beneath Vinci Castle, stands a wooden sculpture depicting the Vitruvian Man in three dimensions. It was created by Mario Ceroli in 1967, titled Squilibrio (Imbalance), and donated to the Municipality twenty years later. The work does not faithfully reproduce Leonardo's drawing: the figure is inserted into a cube and a sphere, but the proportions are not perfect. Ceroli thus sought to evoke the gap between the ideal harmony of the Renaissance and the uncertainty of the contemporary world.

Impressive place and beautiful hike from the city of Vinci along the "Strada Verde" hiking trail.

You have to have been there at least once.

⚠️ connecting path from asphalt road to Poggio Ciliegio alla Merdaccia interrupted by landslide

https://youtu.be/Njg8OFrKAJQ?si=bgAuvqru-sJWLLso

Here, visitors can visit the birthplace of the Italian polymath LEONARDO da VINCI (1452 to 1519). Throughout his life, he was involved in various arts (especially painting, sculpture and architecture) as well as in scientific research (e.g. anatomy), and was an inventor and engineer. The place of burial, however, is located in Amboise (Ile-de-France) in France. The assumption that he was buried there in the Hubertus Chapel (if you are interested, see https://www.komoot.com/de-de/highlight/958658 ) is not scientifically proven, but is not implausible either, because da VINCI spent the last years of his life in the neighboring castle Le Clos Lucé, where the French king had invited him, and died there on May 2, 1519.

It is one of the most popular trails together with the Etrusco and therefore it is usually free of branches and various obstacles that are cleaned both by the "trail builders" of the area, but also by common riders who, finding stones or branches, clear the track anyway out of their habit. It is a Trail that does not present particular difficulties (except perhaps in a passage or two) also suitable for those who are starting to tackle single tracks and who are beginners. It is quite flow even if at times it is dug and with steps that form in the curves due to the very fact that it is very "trafficked" especially on weekends. Even the climb is quite easy since it can be done by tackling the asphalt road that goes up starting from the main road of Pinone and which is in any case closed to normal vehicular traffic.