Location - Vacation Home Siena

The farmhouse Il Focolare is situated inside the Natural Reserve of the low-Merse.
This Reserve was founded in 1996 in order to preserve a rare and uncontaminated ecosystem. It spreads up in a wide area that joins the stream Merse’s and the stream Farma’s valleys, half way between the “Metallifere” hills and the Maremma’s woods.
The rich, unspoilt natural habitat includes a large number of animals like the otter or the coyput, as well as a great variety of arboreous sorts like the mountain beech which have become very rare in other areas of Italy.
In the stream Merse’s plain it is possible to sight the kingfisher and different sorts of rare anphibians, like the emeraldine toad. It is also possible to watch the flight of birds of prey such as the brown kite, the buzzard, the kestrel and, if watchers are lucky, the big royal kite, whose wing span can reach two meters and whose peculiar tail is bifurcated.
In the Reserve’s glades it is possible to come across fallow deers which sometimes come out of the woods in the dark, as well as hares. It is more usual to find out hares’ spoors though, or the marks dug on the small trees’ trunks by their incisors in order to eat up the tender bark.
The wildboar finds his ideal habitat in the thick of the scrub where he feeds on acorns and bulbs but also on invertebrates, small reptiles or eggs.
The sparsest woods are home of the goatsucker, a curious bird that nests and rests during the day by crouching to the ground or on top of branches and trunks. This bird can easily camouflage thanks to his variegated brown plumage and is locally called “schiaccione”.

Arrival

The farmhouse Il Focolare is situated in the Tuscan countryside, about 24 km away from Siena and 4 km away from the village of Casciano di Murlo.

When you reach Siena from Florence, carry on straight ahead direction Grosseto.
Continue straight for about 15 km on the SS 223 until you watch the sign for Fontazzi-Casciano di Murlo on the left side of the road.
Leave the main road here and follow the sign for Casciano di Murlo, passing the hamlet of Fontazzi.
Bear right at the crossroad direction Casciano di Murlo.
Once in Casciano di Murlo carry on straight ahead direction Montepescini, passing the camping « Le Soline ».
About 4 km past the village you come across a sign on the left side of the road, that points « Il Focolare ».
Get in through the left gate.

If you are driving from Rome, leave the A1 at the exit
“Val di Chiana – Bettolle” and follow the signs for Siena.
Drive straight ahead until you get near the city.
Carry on to the ringroad direction Grosseto, then follow the previous instructions.