parklandriverside

Le Cascine: the long avenues and the Arno bank

Florence's great riverside park — the plane-tree avenues, the Sunday market ground, and an Indian prince's tomb.

Photo: CaterinaFis / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Drafted by Claude — the editor hasn’t walked this one yet. We’ll update this notice once it’s been verified on the ground.

Distance

4.6 km

Time

~ 95 min

Difficulty

Moderate

Start

Cascine (Tram T1)

End

Alamanni–Stazione (Tram T1)

Best at

morning

Right now

33°C· Mostly clear

Open in Maps for turn-by-turn, or take it offline as GPX.

Le Cascine is the lung Florence forgets it has — a long green wedge along the Arno west of the centre, once the Medici dukes' hunting and dairy estate and now the city's running, picnicking, market-day park. It's nearly three kilometres end to end, so this is a walk you let unspool rather than tick off.

Best in the morning, when the avenues belong to runners and the light comes through the planes in bars. From the T1 tram at the western end, take the wide central avenue east, then drop to the Arno path along the river side — quieter, with the rowing crews out. Back up to find the Monument to the Indian Prince, the marble memorial to a young maharaja cremated here in 1870, which is exactly as unexpected as it sounds.

Carry on to the eastern clearing — the Tuesday market ground, vast and empty any other day — and the little pyramid-roofed icehouse nearby. The park tapers to Ponte alla Vittoria; end on a bench by the river and take the T1 back.

The route

On the map.

A soft dashed line, numbered stops. It’s a suggestion, not a turn-by-turn.

Elevation

↑ 60 m·↓ 57 m·40–55 m ASL

Stops along the way

Things to notice.

01
1
Piazzale delle Cascine
Step off the T1 tram and the park opens straight ahead in a wide gravel avenue. This is the western end and the calmer one — runners, dog-walkers, the odd horse. Start walking east along the main avenue and let the city fall away behind you.
01
Piazzale delle Cascine
Step off the T1 tram and the park opens straight ahead in a wide gravel avenue. This is the western end and the calmer one — runners, dog-walkers, the odd horse. Start walking east along the main avenue and let the city fall away behind you.
02
2
The Arno bank path
Drop down to the river side of the park, where a path runs along the *Arno* under the trees. Quieter than the central avenue, with the water on your right and rowing crews out early. Walk it as far as it holds, then cut back up to the avenue.
02
The Arno bank path
Drop down to the river side of the park, where a path runs along the *Arno* under the trees. Quieter than the central avenue, with the water on your right and rowing crews out early. Walk it as far as it holds, then cut back up to the avenue.
03
3
Monument to the Indian Prince
An odd, moving thing in the middle of a Tuscan park: the marble memorial to *Rajaram Chuttraputti*, a young maharaja of Kolhapur who died in Florence in 1870 and was cremated here by the river, per his rites. Read the plaque — it's the strangest history on the walk.
03
Monument to the Indian Prince
An odd, moving thing in the middle of a Tuscan park: the marble memorial to *Rajaram Chuttraputti*, a young maharaja of Kolhapur who died in Florence in 1870 and was cremated here by the river, per his rites. Read the plaque — it's the strangest history on the walk.
04
4
The market ground (Piazza Vittorio Veneto end)
The broad open space at the eastern end that fills on Tuesday mornings with the city's biggest open-air market — clothes, cheese, plants, the lot. On any other day it's just a vast gravel clearing, which has its own appeal. Time it for Tuesday if you want the noise.
04
The market ground (Piazza Vittorio Veneto end)
The broad open space at the eastern end that fills on Tuesday mornings with the city's biggest open-air market — clothes, cheese, plants, the lot. On any other day it's just a vast gravel clearing, which has its own appeal. Time it for Tuesday if you want the noise.
05
5
Piramide / the old ice house
Tucked in the eastern reaches, the *Piramide*, an 18th-century pyramid-roofed icehouse where snow was once packed to keep the Grand Duke's kitchens cool through summer. A small absurd folly worth the short detour off the avenue.
05
Piramide / the old ice house
Tucked in the eastern reaches, the *Piramide*, an 18th-century pyramid-roofed icehouse where snow was once packed to keep the Grand Duke's kitchens cool through summer. A small absurd folly worth the short detour off the avenue.
06
6
Ponte alla Vittoria and out
The park narrows to its eastern tip by the bridge, where the tram and the city pick up again. A good place to end — bench, river, the skyline starting to reassemble. The Alamanni stop for the T1 back into town is a couple of minutes on.
06
Ponte alla Vittoria and out
The park narrows to its eastern tip by the bridge, where the tram and the city pick up again. A good place to end — bench, river, the skyline starting to reassemble. The Alamanni stop for the T1 back into town is a couple of minutes on.

Le Cascine: the long avenues and the Arno bank

On the map.

Things to notice.

Piazzale delle Cascine

Piazzale delle Cascine

The Arno bank path

The Arno bank path

Monument to the Indian Prince

Monument to the Indian Prince

The market ground (Piazza Vittorio Veneto end)

The market ground (Piazza Vittorio Veneto end)

Piramide / the old ice house

Piramide / the old ice house

Ponte alla Vittoria and out

Ponte alla Vittoria and out

Two more, on similar days.

Pitti and the Boboli garden

The Bardini Garden and Costa San Giorgio