National Park of Casentino Forests

The history of this territory begins in the ancient age, with the first Etruscan settlements that found in the “Lake of the idols” the most important site of the Tuscan-Romagna Apennines (at the foot of Monte falterona) where to venerate their divinities. The Casentino Forests are an area well known since the Middle Ages, when the Tuscan populations used the precious wood coming from these woods for numerous activities, such as the Opera del Duomo in Florence and others. Over time a secular body that managed these forests, he used wood for the construction of various buildings including the Cupola del Brunelleschi, while the Grand Duchy of Tuscany used the enormous white firs obtained from these mountains to build the master trees of the naval fleets of Pisa and Livorno. The Park has as a characteristic element the Apennine ridge tending to north-west/south-east. From the ridge, develop in the Romagna side, a series of subparallel secondary buttresses that give rise to different lateral valleys.

The heights of the Park range from 400 to 1,658 meters: Mount Falco (1,658 m) and Mount Falterona (1,654 m), from which rises the river Arno, are the highest peaks. The geology of the Romagna side is characterized by the presence of the sandy marl formation, formed by sediments of deep marine environment, with large sandstone banks interspersed with thin marl layers. In the Tuscan part the “boulder” consisting of sandstone rocks alternating with clay shales and grey marl, is the most present geological formation.

The flora present in the Park consists of a number of species numbered 1357, of which 1125 are considered indigenous and present in the territory. This high plant variety is due to the fact that the territory in question hosts forest ecosystems of great value among the best preserved in Europe and has a geographical position that makes it “trait d’union” between two very differentiated floristic contingents, one of the northern type and the other of the southern type.

The fauna of the Park is characterized by the most important wolf population of the northern Apennines, estimated in about fifty specimens, subdivided in 9 hypothetical herds distributed throughout the Park territory. The monitoring activities carried out by the State Forestry Corps coordinated by the Park Authority and the I.S.P.R.A. using non-invasive genetics and wolf-Howling have led over time to acquire an in-depth knowledge of the status of the predator in the Park territory. One of the factors that has favored the wolf on the territory of the species, together with the vast forest cover, is the substantial presence of five species of ungulates: wild boar, roe deer, deer and mouflon.

Points of interest

Acquacheta – cascade – also known as a literary park for Dante references
Castagno d’Andrea – chestnut and birthplace of Andrea del Castagno
Lama Forest – biodiversity and Scalandrini waterfall
Valbonella botanical garden – Apennine flora
Lake of idols – archaeological site
Monte Falco – Integral Nature Reserve
Monte Penna – panoramic point, view of Romagna and lake of ridracoli
Poggio scali – panoramic point, quoted from the Ariosto in the furious Orlando: “as Appennini discovers the
Redracoli – lake and dam
Bioenetic bowl Nature Reserve
Bioenetic Natural Reserve of Chamaldols
Bioenetic Nature Reserve of campigna
Bioenetic Natural Reserve of Badia prataglia
San Benedetto in Alpe – Poggio and Abbey
Sasso fratino – first integral reserve established in Italy (1959)
Freedom Trail – Resistance on the Gothic Line
Serravalle – Tower, Romanesque bridge and villas
Arno springs – Monte falterona
Strada dei Passo dei mandrioli – wilderness area Fosso del Capanno, the first instituted in Italy in 1988, and geological emergency of the “Scalacci”

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