Casentino

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The Casentino is the valley in which flows the river Arno in its first tract, till Subbiano.

It is one of the four valleys in which the Province of Arezzo is divided. Mount Falterona, from which the Arno starts, is the northern boundary of the Casentino, bordering with Romagna. On the east of the valley are the Alpe di Serra and the Alpe di Catenaia, which separate the Casentino from the highest tract of the Val Tiberina. On the west there is the Pratomagno, which separates the valley from the Valdarno Superiore.

It can be said that the valley has an oval form, with an extension across the river that varies from a maximum of 60 km to a minimum of 30. The appearance of the Casentino is very various, including both plains and mountains rich of great forests. These mountains have often attracted great saints: it was here that first St. Romuald built his hermitages at Camaldoli, and that less than two centuries after St. Francis of Assisi estabilished here the Sanctuary of La Verna, the headquarters of the Franciscan order.

The valley's biggest comuni are all in the valley formed by the Arno: among these the biggest are Bibbiena and Poppi, while more or less smaller are Capolona, Castel Focognano, Castel San Niccolò, Pratovecchio, Stia, Subbiano. The villages that are on the neighbouring hills and mountains are much smaller. These are Chitignano, Chiusi della Verna, Montemignaio, Ortignano-Raggiolo and Talla.