Ecotouring Tuscany is located in the Tuscan district of Casentino.

Casentino is the ancient name of the upper valley of the Arno, through which the river flows, after issuing from its source on Mt Falterona, as far as the city of Arezzo. The Arno rises at no great distance from its companion, the Tiber, and runs parallel to it for a while, as if both had been marked out to share a splendid destiny. Indeed they are separated only by a sharp ridge, high upon which the monasteries of La Verna and Camaldoli stand sentinel over their respective valleys.

The Casentino, called by many "The Valley Enclosed", is quintessential Italy. The culture which has moulded Tuscany as it is known in history has been preserved here in a language and in traditions long vanished elsewhere. The Casentino is indeed the Arcadia of Tuscany, and in the middle of it rise the hill-towns of Poppi and Bibbiena, which epitomise the typical Central Italian hill-towns.

The dense expanses of woodland, which clothe the flanks of the mountains and shade the narrow dank valleys, are dotted with the ruined towers of ancient castles and the spires of holy places.

  Info-on-CASENTINO-Ecotuscany.pdf

Over the centuries this highly cultured but seemingly wild, beautiful land has sheltered a succession of saints, mystics and poets attracted by the peaceful isolation offered by its high peaks and ancient forests. St. Francis of Assisi received the stigmata here, the exiled Dante took refuge with the Counts of Guidi in their castle at Romena and the natural beauty of the Vallombrosa pinewoods so inspired English poet John Milton that he immortalized it in his epic poem "Paradise Lost" of 1638.

This is a rural land with more than its fare share of pasture, vineyards, chestnuts and clean waters. Castles, medieval towns and villages, watchtowers and monasteries are set in the landscape like precious stones in a crown.

This land is the home of a rare and privileged encounter between modernism and medieval, history, religion and nature, asceticism and good cuisine.

The Casentino National Forests span across the Apennines range for an extent of 36,000 hectares between the Romagna and Tuscany.

In ancient times, the area was inhabited by Ligurian, Umbrian, Etruscan, Celtic and Roman people. This region has inspired such temporary residents as Dante, Boccaccio, Ariosto and St.Francis and many other travellers and hermits.

Geography and nature never allowed the development of large urban centres. Towns villages, hamlets, castles, and isolated farms with their patchwork of fields, often terraced with dry walls, churches, monasteries and picturesque hermitages stand out amidst a dense cover of forest and woodland.

The National Park is an invaluable asset to our community, having largely preserved its original integrity, as acknowledged by various European authorities.

More info on the National Forests of Casentino at: http://www.parks.it/parco.nazionale.for.casentinesi/Eindex.html