Sleeping in the shelters in the Casentinesi Forests, between Romagna and Tuscany. Here the trekking itineraries and the unmissable events that are held every month in the Casentinesi Forests. A day or a weekend, up to a week of activities to do for lovers of trekking or outdoor life, with children or friends.
A few weeks ago, before leaving for Oman, I stayed in Romagna, to be precise in Galeata. I will talk to you about the living room, then about the Inn and the Restaurant, here I have decided that I will write about Casentinesi Forests.
The Casentinesi Forests straddle the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, between Tuscany and the provinces of Arezzo and Florence and Emilia Romagna and the provinces of Forlì and Cesena. Inside the Casentinesi Forests is the Integral Natural Reserve of Sasso Fratino, which intrigued me a lot. Unfortunately neither you nor I will ever be able to go there, and so curiosity increases even more if possible.
This forest of about 750 hectares, established in 1959, was forbidden to free access and every form of human intervention since then. This means that the forest is a sort of "virgin forest", in which human intervention has been very limited for about 50 years. Within this forest there are no longer even the paths, nature has taken over. To access this forest you need a (more than) special permit, which I don't have and you… I don't know: D but I assume none of you have.
The idea of passing a weekend in the Casentinesi Forests (even if I only spent one day here) it is something that inspires me a lot and that I am trying to organize. The activities are many, as well as the excursions and the animals that can be seen thanks to and together with highly trained guides.
Slow Autumn
Returning to the Casentinesi Forests, the paths and itineraries that can be done in these areas are many and varied. I traveled partly by bus and partly on foot, to see the colors of the foliage of the area. The colors I saw were incredible, also thanks to the viewpoints where we stopped.
The morning fog, when we left for the tours, gave way to the sun and the sky cleared, became clear and the sun lit up the colors. Slow Autumn is an event that began in 2012 and that every year starts in mid-September and ends in early November. The most beautiful things that characterize this time of year are the markets of typical products, photographic laboratories (and who would not want to photograph these places?), Tastings of typical products and other events. Autumn Slow ends with the Gran Galà del gusto in early November in Santa Sofia.
Autumn is also the most magical season of the year, the woods are tinged with warm shades, from yellow to orange and offer us chestnuts, mushrooms, fruits of the undergrowth.
From refuge to refuge
Is it possible to sleep in the Casentinesi Forests? Yes and also well, in contact with nature and in an economic way. The dense network of paths and shelters scattered along the territory form 8 rings in which there are not only shelters, but also farmhouses, inns and old farms. The 8 rings offer the possibility to make a circular route and then return to the place where you started, and left the car, but also to stop for one or more nights along the way.
In the site Casentinesi Forest Park you can find the itineraries of the 8 rings to understand the routes and see the proposed events.
