The Balze of Castelfranco di Sopra

The balze are rock formations found in several municipalities between Florence and Arezzo: Castelfranco di Sopra, Regello, Pian di Sco, to name a few. They were formed, just as happened in Bryce Canyon in Utah, from sediments deposited by a lake in the Pliocene and Pleistocene, about 20 km long, which occupied what is now the Valdarno. At Castelfranco there are two walking trails: the percorso delle fossate and the acqua zolfina trail. Together they form almost a loop, which we walked in about an hour and a half. Of the two, the one kept in the best condition is the acqua zolfina trail; on the other, in some stretches the grass is tall and there are lots of insects (at least when we were there).