Where to start when exploring this wonderful area? Best to start with the good and genuine things, such as the two specialties that most characterize it: bread and chestnuts. Marliana is a land rich in farms and bakeries that carry on the most authentic traditions and flavors. This is why as many trails have been dedicated to these two delicacies: the bread trail and the chestnut trail.

Bread

Crossing the territory, and especially choosing to follow the bread trail, you will meet many bakeries. You will be able to lose yourself in the stone alleys while breathing in the scent of freshly baked bread. In fact, each village on the bread route has its own bakery, which makes the exquisite Tuscan bread typical of these areas every day. According to tradition, bread must be baked in wood-fired ovens in the ancient ovens, and this is exactly how it is still made today. The characteristic of this exquisite product lies in the processing, which resumes ancient rhythms and ways. But also in the raw materials used for the dough: from flour to pure water from the area.   

Chestnuts 

Much of the territory of Marliana is immersed in wonderful chestnut groves, covering lush slopes, ridges and paths. A true spectacle full of colors and scents that runs through the entire area and in particular the chestnut trail. This fruit was the main source of livelihood for the first inhabitants of these areas. And still today it represents the distinctive feature of the territory of Marliana and the Pistoian mountains. In fact, every year festivals and celebrations dedicated to the chestnut are organized by the inhabitants of the villages.  The festival of chestnuts or that of frugiate (the name for roasted chestnuts) is a tradition repeated every year in autumn in many hamlets of the area. Various traditional chestnut products are prepared here: from necci stuffed with ricotta to the famous castagnaccio and delicious fritters.