Surely one of the most beautiful and fascinating landscapes of the whole Valdarno are the Balze, also portrayed in the background of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, the Mona Lisa.
The sinuous mountain peaks are known as "the Sand Dolomites" and have been declared a "Protected Natural Area of Local Interest".
The Balze were formed, like Bryce Canyon in Utah, from the sediments deposited by a lake from the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods, about 20 km long, which occupied what is now known as the Valdarno. Over the millennia, as the lake has gradually receded, its sediments have been subjected to continuous erosion by atmospheric agents, which have shaped them into the fascinating form known as the "Balze" (crags).
