Lucca sends you off with its walls, straight lanes and flat ground. The GPX first crosses the plain through Capannori, Porcari and Altopascio, then heads towards Fucecchio. Near San Miniato, the hilltop town sits just off the line; after that comes the Arno corridor: Empoli, Montelupo, railway, river flats, everyday Tuscany rather than brochure Tuscany. Just before Florence, the route still asks for work. It climbs into the low hills west of the city, then drops through Scandicci. The finish is traffic, stone, domes and the Arno.
