Alpi di San Benedetto

They're not Alps at all, of course, but a patch of the Apennines north of Florence that offers some lovely scenery amidst mountain forests of beech and hornbeam.

From the city, take the SS67 through Pontassieve and up to Dicomano in the foothills. From here the SS67 climbs east into the mountains; San Godenzo, 10km up the SS67, is the largest village, site of an 11th-century Benedictine abbey; its plain church has a raised presbytery and a polyptych by the school of Giotto.

From San Godenzo a road continues up to the birthplace of Andrea del Castagno, now called Castagno d’Andrea (‘Andrew’s chestnut’), a village where the local economy and the cuisine were indeed based for centuries on the abundant chestnuts. Castagno lies on the edge of the Parco Nazionale delle Foreste Casentinesi, its visitors centre includes the Museo Virtuale Andrea Del Castagno dedicated to the painter with reproductions of his works; they also have maps of park itineraries and info on the local flora and fauna and the traditional chestnut culture.