Description: Castle Vecchio, Italy: My husband found the perfect picnic site here (the trail begins about 3 miles outside of San Gimignano, off the main road, by San Donato Farm). We packed a picnic lunch of cheese, bread, Tuscan salami, fruit and wine, put on our hiking boots and headed for the trail. It was a tough 3-mile hike with a lot of steep up and down hills but the views were breathtaking. Once we arrived at the castle ruins we explored the unexcavated site and found two towers, an ancient church with faded frescos and many crumbled living quarters. The best part was that we were away from the crowded museums and tour buses. We had the whole place to ourselves to just sit and listen to the animals in the surrounding forest and try to imagine what life was like in the 11th century. It was truly a magical experience.
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