The Casentino is a natural valley in Tuscany corresponding to the upper basin of the Arno River and bordered to the north by the Mount Falterona group, to the west by the Pratomagno chain and to the east by the Serra Alps and Mount Penna.
Here we are re-educated to silence with the enchanting villages such as Poppi, Stia, Pratovecchio, Bibbiena, and natural wonders such as Mount Falterona, where the Arno River rises from its slopes and the Foreste Casentinesi National Park, a wooded area of white firs and beeches UNESCO World Heritage Site, maples and oaks among the most valuable in Europe. Here is also immersed the oasis of silence of the Hermitage and the Monastery of Camaldoli, which recently turned one thousand years old. Further east we find the Verna Sanctuary. The mountain, covered by forests of beech and fir trees, has an unmistakable shape with its peak cut into three parts. Here in ‘200 San Francesco received the stigmata.
It is enough to go up to the Castle of Porciano, residence of the Supreme Poet Dante Alighieri above Stia, to find a wonderful view, with the hills that chase each other among cypresses, olive trees and crenellated towers, and the view that flies from the Castle of Romena to the Castle of Poppi.
Poppi Castle is considered the symbol of the entire Casentino. It often appears to us in a different way, depending on the weather conditions and the passing of the seasons, but always suggestive.
The castle of Romena is a fortress located in the municipality of Pratovecchio on top of a hill at 621 meters above sea level in a dominant position over the whole valley.
Descending further down we find the Romanic Church of San Pietro, “…like an uncultured stone flower, the Church of Romena has been blossoming for almost 900 years in the green Tuscan countryside, in Casentino, on a hill that opens its gaze on the valley following the path of a still young Arno…” (Cit.)
The Foreste Casentinesi National Park,established in 1993, is located in the Tuscan-Romagna Apennines, along the border of the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, between the provinces of Forlì-Cesena, Arezzo and Florence. The integral natural reserve of Sasso Fratino and the beech forests are included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The ancient forests, among the largest and best preserved in Europe, are the custodians of an enormous floral heritage, numerous birds including the golden eagle and the wild animals of great importance including the wolf among the large predators and a massive presence of ungulates such as deer, roe deer and fallow deer.
Small groups from 2 to 6 people, photography enthusiasts and professionals can ask me to organize a personalized Workshop in the most beautiful places of the Casentino and Foreste Casentinesi National Park to spend days in the name of photography in which we will make more shooting sessions in the most beautiful places at the right time in any season of the year, to make the most of the light and maximize the photo shoot.
