Casentino Forests National Park
| The Park | |
The map
The Territory (1)
The Territory (2)
The Forests
Camaldoli Eremo
Verna Sanctuary
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The Territory
The Park was established in 1993 and it covers a wide stretch of territory at the border of Romagna and Toscana. In Romagna, the mounain sections of the valleys of the Montone, of the Rabbi, of the Bidente, and of the Tramazzo are part of it.
Tuscany
The slope lying in Toscana is much sweeter, and it is furrowed by the valleys of the streams Staggia, Fiumicello, and Archiano, left tributaries of the river Arno which, in its initial part runs almost parallel to the main ridge.
Always on the Tuscan slope, the protected area goes on eastwards up to the suggestive calcalreous Mt. Penna, where the famous Franciscan Sanctuary of La Verna is situated.
The Forests
The heart of the Park is represented by the Foreste Demaniali Casentinesi, an ancient group of forests whose centuries-old shrewd management allowed the preservation of a wide area of forests of great naturalistic interest for their high level of integrity and their extraordinary richness in flora and fauna. These forests include the riserva naturale integrale di Sasso Fratino, the first one to be established in Italy in 1959, and that of the Pietra, together with other riserve naturali biogenetiche, which are still managed by the Corpo Forestale dello Stato (State Corps of Foresters).
Fauna
The Park's slope in Romagna includes thousands of hectares of territory - mainly owned by the Region - which in the last decades have acquired a considerable level of "naturality" because of the man's exodus and of the following reforestation activity. The wolf (Italian text) and the golden eagle have come back, and large populations of deers, roe deers, and fallow deers are only the most evident sign of a recovered ecological balance.
The Signs of Man
In the landscape, the signs of man have not disappeared, but they have been frozen by abandonment: houses, bridges, and mule tracks lead the excursionist at the discovery of a civilization, the civilization of the so-called "Romagna Toscana" which has its own particular features.
On the slope in Toscana, the environmental frame is completed by a submountain territory clearly influenced by the activity of man who shaped a landscape made of woods alternating with pastures and cultivated lands, parishes, hermitages, monasteries, the symbols of the whole region.
The Eremo and the Monastero di Camaldoli, the Santuario della Verna, and the natural environment surrounding them offer to the visitor the greatest emotions.
The Verna
Situated in a defensive place on the steep southern wall of Mt. Penna, the famous Franciscan sanctuary has always been a destination for pilgrims: it lies within a silent and gloomy wood where the Saint spent most of his hermit's life. The calcareous nature of the mountain shaped its harsh morphology, characterized by a number of ravines and natural cavities opening up under the shadow of majestic maples, ashes, elms, and beeches. Some particularly suggestive places were chosen by the Saint and by the monks for their prayers. The mountain was given to St. Francis in 1213 by the Casentinese count Orlando Cattani, who is today buried in the small church of Santa Maria degli Angeli whose building he supported. In September 1224, the miracle of the stigmata took place at the Verna. The event was recalled by Dante in the Paradiso and is still commemorated in a solemn festivity.
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