Casentino
To the north of Arezzo stretch the hills and valleys of Casentino; this lush, wooded area with high lying, often surrounded by city walls, is rarely visited by tourists. The best destination for a day trip is Poppi, where from Arezzo can be reached by bus or private train line. Reaching the monasteries of La Verna and Camaldoli, hidden among the hills, it takes more time – and preferably a car.
Bibbien and La Verna
The main city of Casentino, BIBBIEN, has an attractive central district, bordering a large tobacco factory and rare buildings. The most important monument is the church of San Lorenzo, FIFTEENth-century building, where you can admire terracotta from the studio of the della Robbia family.
The daily bus from Arezzo continues to the monastery of La Verna, 23 km east of Bibbiena. St. Francis arrived in 1224 r. to the monastery for meditation and it was here that he was marked with stigmata. Currently, it is a pilgrimage destination, and in the fifteenth-century basilica there are works by Andrea della Robbia, widely regarded as masterpieces.
Poppi and Camaldoli
The situated Fr. 5 km south of Bibbien, POPPI is located high above the access road and railway station. Leaving the station you will find yourself in the modern lower suburb of Ponte a Poppi, from where you have to walk along via Dante Alighieri — a cobbled street, which will take shortcuts to the upper city in ten minutes. The old town is no more than a few squares and an arcaded main street (via Cavour), but one monument definitely rises above the scale of a provincial town – Palazzo Pretorio, built in the thirteenth century. for the Guidi family according to a design identical to the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Hanging walls are an excellent choice of weapons, great hall is decorated with fourteenth-century frescoes, and from the tower (pn.-sb. 9.00-14.00) there are wonderful views. Via Cavour ends at the second piazza, where stands the magnificent church of San Fedele; the very dark interior contains a fascinating thirteenth-century painting madonna and Child. Opposite the church is a couple of bars and restaurants and a small one-star Pension Casentino (0575/529090), with doubles approx 40000 L.
Just over 15 km northeast of Poppi is Camaldoli (rare buses from Ponte a Poppi), where at the beginning of the eleventh century St.. Romuald founded a Benedictine monastery with a particularly ascetic rule. The repeatedly rebuilt monastery complex is not very interesting, if you do not count the sixteenth-century pharmacy, where herbal products are currently sold. But the landscape is beautiful — a dense pine-fir forest — and after an hour's walk up the hill you reach Eremo and its baroque church.. Only men are allowed out of the gate, to see the twenty cells of the monastery — women must watch from afar.
In summer, the Camaldoli area is an extremely popular holiday area. The focus of life here is BADIA PRATAGLIA, 10 km east of Camaldoli, with excellent hiking trails in all directions. Avid walkers can try to find the source of the Arno River near Monte Falternona in the north.