A 130 km trail from Bologna to Florence in 5–6 stages, partly retracing the Roman Flaminia Militare. The Mugello stretch crosses Passo della Futa, Sant'Agata and San Piero a Sieve, a few kilometres from the property.
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The Flaminia Militare, a Roman road commissioned by consul Gaius Flaminius Nepos in 187 BC, connected Bononia (Bologna) to Arretium (Arezzo) across the Apennines and the Mugello. The main ancient source is Livy, Ab Urbe condita XXXIX, 2. The route fell into disuse in the medieval period and for centuries was known only through these texts.
The modern rediscovery dates to 1979–1981, when Cesare Agostini and Franco Santi identified above Monghidoro a section paved with sandstone blocks still in situ. Subsequent fieldwork, documented in the volume La Flaminia Militare (Pendragon, 1985), mapped about 13 km of original Roman paving.
The contemporary trail named "Via degli Dei" was laid out in the 1990s by the CAI of Bologna, joining the Roman route to Apennine hiking paths. It runs 130 km in total over 5–6 stages, with a cumulative ascent of about 4,700 m. The name derives from the mountains it crosses: Monte Adone, Monte Venere, Monzuno (from Mons Iovis). According to local hiking associations, in 2023 the trail was walked by over 20,000 people, mainly Italians but with growing numbers from Germany, the Netherlands and France.
The Mugello section descends from Passo della Futa (903 m) to San Piero a Sieve via Sant'Agata. From there the trail continues to Florence via Bivigliano, Fiesole and Porta San Gallo. The property is about 15 km from the centre of San Piero a Sieve and about 30 km from Passo della Futa.
Further east, on the border with Romagna, another ancient walk is worth the detour: the trail to the Acquacheta waterfall, starting from San Benedetto in Alpe (San Godenzo, Mugello). The 90-metre drop on the Acquacheta torrent is the one Dante describes in the Inferno, canto XVI, lines 94–102 — comparing it to the roar with which the Phlegethon plunges down to the lower circle. It is one of the few Apennine landscapes Dante recounts in person, as a wayfarer.
Roads are not in the landscape: they are the landscape.— Tiziano Terzani
One of the five rooms of the Leopoldina is named after the Flaminia Militare. Double room with private en-suite bathroom, first floor, west-facing. The only room in the house with a non-shared bathroom.