The green Casentino Valley
Casentino is the first valley of river Arno, biggest river of Tuscany.
Its perimetre is almost circular and it is surrounded by high mountains: on the west side of Falterona, it extends over Pratomagno, to Catenaia, for a surface of about 700 kmq inside Arezzo province.
It’s a place which tells us about its history and marvels with the natural wonders of the Casentino Forests National Park, characterized by a landscape of forests, green pastures, mountains and rolling hills.
Casentino is also a land of meeting, where San Romualdo, more than 1000 years ago, founded Camaldoli and the Benedictine religious order, and where Francesco d’Assisi, enchanted by the Verna mount, came several times to retreat and pray and lay the first stones of the Franciscan Sanctuary.
Here art is protagonist, whith Della Robbia itinerary and the enchantment of terracotta preserved in the little country churches.
Feudal territory, it’s always been contested between Florence and Arezzo giving rise to bitter battles; the most famous is the one of Campaldino, fought in 1289 between Guelphs and Ghibelines.
On the battle field, among the Guelph soldiers, there was a young Dante Alighieri.
After this, the poet always had a strong link whith Casentino, and he stayed here during a period of exile from Florence, and was guest to the Guidi Counts on several occasions, so that he described Casentino in great details in the Divine Comedy.
The Medieval period left many traces with the castles of Poppi, Romena, Porciano, Castel San Niccolò, Borgo alla Collina, Montemignaio and Chitignano: fortresses which tell stories of families and feuds have written for centuries the history of this territory.
The National Park
A few steps away from San Martino in Tremoleto hamlet, we can find the Casentino Forests National Park: a big protected forests area, one of the oldest and most valuable of Europe.
The Park, formed in 1993, covers an area of more than 36.000 hectares on the border of Tuscany and Emilia Romagna.
It protects an area of forests in Casentino which goes from the Calla Pass on mount Falterona, to the Mandrioli Pass, until La Verna.
The Park can give you spectacular moments as you discover many places of natural and historical interest along more than 650 km of excursions paths; it’s also the first in Italy to conceive and realize a wonderful path for blind and disabled people.
The Casentino Forests are a treasure chest of biodiversity, there are almost 1400 species of plants, and families of deer, fallow deer, and wolves live here, as well as boars, roes, foxes, porcupines, badgers.
The history of the Park, which is one of the biggest forest areas in Europe, is fascinating.
This part of Tuscany was already known in the Middle Ages for its forests and for the precious wood used in construction and boat building. Brunelleschi’s dome (Florence) was built using wood from these forests, while the naval fleets of Pisa and Livorno used the great silver firs as masts, giant trees of over 40 metres !
But forests here have never been over-exploited, they have always been administrated with sustainable management which takes care of the conservation and the future of the forest, thanks to several management throughout the centuries: the Camaldoli Monks, the Opera del Duomo di Firenze institution, the Franciscan’s Monks in La Verna, and Grand Duke Leopoldo II of Lorena who organized a big campaign of re-forestation in Casentino in 1700.
We can recommend many itineraries to visit on foot, by bike, or on horseback, with scenery changing with the seasons.
It’s really exciting when, at the end of September, you can hear the powerful calls of the deers in the heart of the forest, and the Park organizes a deer census, you can take part in.
In the middle of Park there is the Integral Reserve of Sasso Fratino, first established in Italy (1959), and honored since 1985 with European certificate of protected areas.
Inside this reserve trees grows and get old following only the laws of nature, with no men’s intervention. And just the unbelievable longevity ot trees (research reveal the existance of beech passing 5 centuries) put immediately the reserve between the 10 oldest forests of northern hemisphere, becoming a candidate for the famous recognition of “Unesco world heritage”.
On 7 december 2015 the Park received a prestigious recognition: the CETS (European Certificate of Eco-friendly Tourism), a sort of certification course, which can allow a better management of protected areas for the development of eco-friendly tourism.
Poppi and the Conti Guidi’s Castle
The medieval town of Poppi is a rare “walled city” at the top ruleth the Conti Guidi’s Castle, work of the famous family of architects Di Cambio and “prototype” of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Thanks to the constant renovations over the centuries, the castle is currently in excellent conditions. Coming down from the castle you can admire the Rectory of Saints Mark and Lorenzo, and, in front of it, in the main square, you can see a rare example of “baroque Tuscan”, the Oratory of the Madonna del Morbo. Continuing through the village master flanked by porticos, which allow a visit in every season, we come to the ancient Abbey of San Fedele, full of remarkable works of art, including a Giotto crucifix. At last, the Augustinian Monastery, which preserves valuable Della Robbia terracotta. The tour through the charming town of Poppi may end with a healthy walk along the medieval walls, from which you can admire a beautiful view of the typical Tuscan countryside.
The La Verna Sanctuary
The la Verna Sanctuary is situated in the Tuscan Apennines. The mountain, which is covered with a monumental fir and beech trees forest, is characterized by an unmistakable appearance thanks to its summit (1283 sea level) bending in sheer drop over the valley. Over the sheer cliff and wrapped around by a surrounding wood we can find the hole unit of the Sanctuary, which cherishes several art, culture and history treasures inside its massive and articulated structure.
In summer 1224 San Francesco withdrew on the mountain for his ordinary spiritual exercises and silence. During his stay, he asked God to be able to take part, from the very deep of his heart, to the Passion of Christ, mystery of love and pain at the same time. The Lord paid attention to his words and appeared to him in the guise of a crucified seraph who gave him as a gift the seals of the Passion. Francesco turned into a visible an concrete imagine of Christ not only in his heart, mind and soul, which already were, but even in his exterior body.
The Stigmata episode together with Francesco life style are the most precious thing given to his friars mates in la Verna. St Francesco’s important spiritual heir not only deals with every single friar in the monastery, but it turns into the main vehicle which the community wants to convey to all those who visit la Verna.
The Sacred Hermitage and the Monastery of Camaldoli
Camaldoli was founded one thousand years ago by San Romualdo, and is a Community of Benedictine monks. There are two houses, the Hermitage and the Monastery, immersed into the depths of the forest. They represent the two fundamental dimensions of monastic experience, solitude and communion.
The Hermitage consists in a beautiful church, containing inside an Andrea della Robbia’s glazed terracotta, of the end of the 15th century, illustrating Virgin Mary with the Baby among San Romualdo and Sant’Antonio Abate, and in an hermit area with many monks’ cells (not accessible to the public).
A little more downward, there is the big complex of Monastery, whith its inner cloisters, the fascinating locations of the ancient pharmacy where it is possible to purchase the well-known monks’ products, and the Baroque church, embellished by works of the great architect and painter Giorgio Vasari from Arezzo.
Camaldoli, as well as a place of worship, is also “synonime” of charming and uncontaminated nature. It is indeed located inside the hearth of the National Park of Casentino Forests. In this area it is possible to perform excursions or relaxing walks that lead us through centuries-old forests of fir and beech trees to mountain grasslands and places that offer breath-taking views.
San Pietro a Romena Church
Inside the municipality of Pratovecchio, in the middle of a beautiful countryside surrounded by the peaks of the Apennines, there is the San Pietro a Romena Church.
The church is one of the most interesting Romanesque buildings of the Casentino Valley.
It was built in the mid-twelfth century on the ruins of an earlier church of the eighth century, visible under the presbytery.
Inside the church there are no significant works of art, but the architecture is really impressive, and the light streaming in through the mullioned windows of the apse is imprinted in the memory of everyone who visits this place of simplicity and harmony.
Bibbiena and the Santa Maria del Sasso Sanctuary
Located on top of a hill, at a height of 425 mt., Bibbiena is considered the economic capital of Casentino.
The first historic dates go back to 979 A.D., but its origins were certainly Etruscan.
At first it was a castle for the bishops of Arezzo, then Bibbiena went to the Tarlati Family, who strengthened its defense.
From the Medieval period we can find, in Tarlati square, the remains of the ancient outpost of the powerful family: the beautiful Clock Tower, and to the rear, the Porta dei Fabbri town door.
There are plenty of good reasons to visit the historic centre, with the charming renaissance architecture of the Mazzoleni, Niccolini,and Dovizi buildings; and the beautiful church of San Lorenzo, with two glazed terracotta works by Andrea della Robbia,
Outside the old town there is Santa Maria del Sasso, an oasis of peace and silence, reflection and prayer.
Architectural complex of great historical value, artistic and religious, unique Renaissance exemplary in Casentino, the Sanctuary was erected in memory of the apparition of Our Lady (23 June 1347) and declared a National Monument in 1899.
