The Historical Foreste Casentinesi National Park

The Foreste Casentinesi National Park is one of the renowned national parks in Italy. Being created in 1993, it covers an area of about 365 square kilometers on both the sides of Apennine watershed between Romagna and Tuscany. It generally extends around the long ridge and descends steeply along the parallel valleys of the Romagna side and more gradually on the Tuscan side. It proffers with gentler slopes in the Casantino area which eventually slopes down in the broad valley of Arno.

Characteristics and Features:

The landscape is characterized by the sedimentary rock which largely consists of sandstone intercalated with marl. The Foreste Casentinesi National Park can truly be denoted as one of the most acclaimed forest areas in Europe. While visiting the park, you will be able to observe the Foreste Demaniali Casentinesi which further endows with the Riserva Naturale Integrale of Sasso Fratino. The territory also possesses several towns and villages which have a rich cultural heritage of its own convoyed with magnificent scenic beauty. It even includes the significant population of the Apennine Wolf along with the mere presence of five species such as, wild boar, fallow deer, roe deer, common deer and mouflon. Again, the mere structure of the south east area of the park is entirely diversified. Here an individual can observe the distinguishing feature Mount La Verna which vividly rises out from a landscape of broad and rolling hills. There also lies a protected area which can be visited either through the excursions on mountain bike, foot, horseback or on cross-country skis along with a path network of approximately 600 kilometers.

The Sanctuary of La Verna and the Hermitage of Camaldoli are the two prominent locations inside the Foreste Casentinesi National Park which proffers with both spiritual and historical importance. In addition, the forest even caters with top notch quality of wood which contributes a lot in respect of providing a livelihood in front of the native inhabitants. The forest even caters with a variety of mountain vegetation such as, hornbeams, turkey oaks, chestnut woods etc.  

 

The Foreste Casentinesi National Park further endows with an area where the people have always lived and worked and this is one of the main reasons for the occurrence of several abandoned villages and ruins within the park territory. Again, due to the result of a mass departure that took place during the Second World War, the total number of residents in the park has eventually declined around 1,500.