SURROUNDED BY THE SILENCE OF THE CASENTINO FORESTS The National Park of the Casentino Forests is one of the largest and most ancient forest areas in Europe, a natural jewel with an enormous natural and historical heritage. You can visit the protected area on foot, riding a horse or a bike and in the winter with the ski along the 600 Km of hiking network. A magic area with abundance of flora and fauna, a perfect place for those who want to put aside the everyday life and enjoy the calm offered by the nature. This open-air museum is waiting to be visited and experienced.
The parks and the museums of the Tiber Valley are the leitmotiv of this part of Tuscany where nature, art and history are so inextricably intertwined. Small museums in different municipalities house the beauty of the masters’ works who left a remarkable sign such as Rosso Fiorentino, Della Robbia family, Piero della Francesca, Jacopo della Quercia and Pontormo. All the museums of this territory have signed on the Tiber Valley Museums Pass, which gives the possibility to visit all these museums with a reduced ticket with no time limit. In the Tiber Valley nature and man live in harmony: that’s why in addition to the museums you can discover special natural places such as the Reserve of Sasso di Simone in Sestino, suggestive and fascinating because of its geological evolution or the Reserve of the Monti Rognosi in Anghiari, where rocks of magmatic origin form a special range of colors from red to green to black. In the mountain area you can also take different tracks such as in the Reserve of the Alpe della Luna, in the municipalities of Sansepolcro and Badia Tedalda, to reach isolated places and to enjoy unexpected views.
The Etruscans were a fascinating but also quite mysterious civilization and the goal of this route is to remove the time distance in order to know them better. First of all, starting from the Locanda you can go to Arezzo to visit the Archeological Museum, where the Etruscan splendors are preserved, especially the goldsmith’s art samples to attest the continuity of this artisan tradition over the centuries. The next stop after Arezzo is Cortona with its archeological park just outside the town and its Etruscan Academy Museum. The journey continues in Castiglion Fiorentino, Bibbiena and Castel Focognano and its countryside where some ruins testify the vitality of these Tuscan towns even during the Etruscan period. The last stop is in Chiusi, the birthplace of the legendary king Porsenna, and its Archeological Museum where you can see valuable evidences of the Etruscan: the most famous ones are the canopi, jars containing the ashes after the cremation of the corpses, and chamber tombs with painted walls.
Chianti is not only the synonym of excellent wine, but also of breathtaking landscapes with most beautiful Tuscan towns in Italy. One day to discover this beautiful area and delight your eyes with the artistic and architectural wonders of the place and palate with the typical Tuscan cuisine and the excellent wine. You can’t miss the cities of Florence and Siena. The first one, the art city par excellence, famous for the works of art realized by great artists such as Michelangelo, Botticelli, Donatello, Giotto and Brunelleschi inPalazzo Vecchio, the Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio and Galleria degli Uffizi. Siena, surrounded by the olive trees and the vineyards, is a wonderful art city with very characteristic alleys, wards and towers, artisan shops and buildings that make it a very special place such as Piazza del Campo, the Duomo, the Torre del Mangia, the Church of San Domenico. It’s famous for its Palio, the historic horse race that take place every year on July 2 and August 16.
