Trekking Urbano: A New Kind of Tourism

When the annual city quality-of-life assessments are published, Siena invariably ranks close to the top, and this comes as no surprise. They were one of the first cities to establish a zona blu (a traffic-free zone), and theirs remains one of the largest, if not the largest in Italy; just about all of the area within the Renaissance city walls is off limits to all but residential traffic, and even the residents have to use the beltway if they want to get to a different part of the city.

Combine clean air, hardly any traffic, lots of hills, and the tremendous surge in popularity enjoyed by hiking in recent years, and what do you get? Urban Trekking, in other words trails that lead visitors up and down hills and stairways, across ramparts, under (or over) arches, along walls, past the unexpected, and though beautiful parts of the city that even many residents are unfamiliar with. So far there are four trails, all laid out using CAI (Club Alpino Italiano) symbols of the kind you will also find if you hike in the mountains or cross country: Tra Arte e Natura, which combines artworks (especially architecture) with countryside; Alla Scoperta di Panormai Mozzafiato, in Search of Breathtaking Panoramas; Vicoli e Giardini all'Ombra della Torre, Alleys and Gardens within the Shadow of the Torre del Mangia; and Per Giovani Esploratori, For Young Explorers. The first two are self explanatory, while the latter two merit an aside. If you walk through Siena (or most older Italian cities, for that matter), you will see lots of streets lined with buildings that only come to a stop where there are intersections. Sometimes there are sidewalks and sometimes there are not, but there often isn't so much as a blade of grass. This is because you don't see what's behind the buildings; there can be grassy strips, vegetable patches, and even beautifully laid out formal gardens back there, and if you know how to work your way into these swaths of green you'll see the city in a whole new light; this is what the alleys and gardens hike is designed to do. The Giovani Esploratori hike is instead thought out for the family that is traveling with children, who will likely need a break from the museums, churches, and artworks that all too many young people suffer though at their parents' sides (speaking from experience here; by age 6 I had spent many hours in most of the major Italian archaeology museums, and though I now love most art I still find Greek pottery hard to swallow). There are also plans for hikes featuring gastronomic marvels, and artisans' shops, and they hope to organize walks for single people too.

It is important to note that these are true hikes and not strolls; in laying out the trails the organizers selected what was interesting and beautiful, not what was easy to navigate, and this means that some sections are quite steep and others have uneven footing. Because of the physical exertion they require Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Siena's Assessore al Turismo, said she would not recommend them during the hottest months, and this brings up a second point: What is the goal of Urban Trekking?

A distressing percentage of Italian tourism is of a variety known as Mordi e Fuggi -- Bite and Run -- in which people stay for a day in a place and then move on; the archetype of this sort of thing is the week in Italy that begins with a day or two in Rome, a day in Pompeii, a day in Florence, a day or two in Venice, and on home. People who take this sort of Bite & Run tour may see a lot, but even if they remember what they saw as they were herded from here to there, they won't have understood the places they visited because there simply wasn't time. Siena's treks are instead designed to give visitors the time they need; after spending a day seeing the sites on the must-see list (Duomo, Museo del Duomo with Duccio's masterpieces, Piazza del Campo and the Comune, with the allegories of good & bad government, the view from the Torre del Mangia, the Fortezza Medicea, San Domenico, Santa Caterina's home, and a Contrada (the neighborhoods that participate in Siena's Palio) or two come to mind) they can explore the byways, and thus gain an understanding of how the must-see things fit into the cultural fabric of the city. Therefore, the treks are designed to help visitors better understand Siena, and are also designed to attract visitors during what would otherwise be off months -- there is a special beauty to watching the sun set over a medieval tower and then walking the streets as twilight fades, and enjoying the city in darkness too without staying up really late.

To be frank, Trekking Urbano is a stroke of genius; visitors get to know their destination much better than they will if they simply run through it (and may as a result decide to return), while the local economy benefits because visitors stay longer than they otherwise might. The second brilliant thing about Trekking Urbano is that it can be exported: Any city with good air quality (Siena is installing air quality monitors on the trails), serious hills, and beautiful things to see amidst the hills is a good candidate for Urban trekking: all the city has to do is lay out the trails set up what infrastructures are necessary (for example make arrangements with artisans along the trails) and get the word out. San Francisco, Take Note.

The Hikes so far:
Per Giovani Esploratori
Vicoli e Giardini
Tra Arte e Natura
Panarami Mozzafiato