Casentino Valley

Casentino

Casentino

Leave Florence and its crowd, selfies and traffic and take a road that runs through a countryside of vineyards, olive trees and centenary woods. Just a few kilometres and you’ll reach the top of Consuma pass, from where your sight will open to a stunning green valley, dotted with villages and castles, the Casentino.

So close to Florence and Arezzo yet so particular, this valley is surrounded by mountains, which have left it isolated preserving its beauty until now.

The Casentino has been a destination for many travellers, such as Dante Alighieri – who was hosted  here several times – Gabriele D’Annunzio and other notable travellers (Traveller's tales) of the past, who saw this valley not too different from what it looks today.

In fact, the work of the inhabitants through the centuries has preserved the Casentino, respecting the millenary culture of villages and castles, the spirituality of monasteries and churches, the fascination of century-old forests, the flavour of genuine products deriving from farming traditions.

The traveller who arrives in Casentino will experience a rare balance between nature and culture.

That is why Casentino is the charming nature of its National Forest Park, featuring the largest forests of peninsular Italy, which surround the valley from the eastern mountains. Casentino is the alternation of kaleidoscopic colors through the seasons. Casentino is the enchanting architecture of the castles of Poppi, Romena, Porciano and Castel San Niccolò, of Piazza Tanucci in Stia and Piazza Tarlati in Bibbiena. Casentino is the spirituality of La Verna, Camaldoli, Romena and Santa Maria del Sasso. Casentino is the history of the bloody battle of Campaldino (June 11th, 1289), admirably described by Dante Alighieri in his Divina Commedia.

Casentino is history, through the traces of the Etruscan civilization in Pieve a Socana and the Archaeological Museum of Bibbiena. Casentino is history on the plaque on Palazzo Vettori’s facade, reminding the plebiscite of 11th and 12th March 1860, which ratified the end of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and its annexation to Sabaudian Piedmont.

However, the Casentino offers chances of fun, leisure and sport as well. For our students and their friends, it will be possible to integrate our Italian language courses and  culture programs including visits to sites of historical, artistic, spiritual and gastronomic interest, with open-air activities, such as walking, trekking, cycling, golf playing and horse riding.

Contacts

C.C.I.C. ´Piero della Francesca´
Centro di Cultura Italiana Casentino
Piazza Amerighi n.1
I - 52014 Poppi (AR )· Toscana · Italia

  • dummy+39 0575 529774

  • dummy+39 375 5755371

  • dummy arno@parlital.it

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