Parco Nazionale Foreste Casentinesi, Tuscany

Parco Nazionale Foreste Casentinesi, 35 kilometres from Florence. The Farmhouse is immersed in verdant woodland and a stone’s throw from the Casentine Forests.

The Facilities of Casa Passerini

Each apartment at the is equipped with a fully functioning kitchen fitted with fridge and oven. They all have a wood burning fireplace and television. Towels and linen are included in the price. A pool is available for residents of the Casa Passerini apartments and the Chestnut Drying House. Residents of the Villa l’Intento have exclusive access to their own pool. A UMTS internet connection is available in the main house. Guests can ramble freely throughout the entire farm and a Soft Trekking path skirts along the edge of the Casa Passerini farmland.

Shopping

Guests can shop for groceries, fruit and papers in the small town of Londa which is 7 kilometres and a 5-10 minute drive from Casa Passerini. The town has a bank (with a cash point) and a post office. A shopping centre not far from the small town of Dicomano, 15 km distance and a twenty minute drive, is within easy reach of Casa Passerini.

The-Mall outlet is less than 40 mintutes (about 30 km) from Casa Passerini and includes a "coffee" cool place to relax or eat anything during the ordering process. The Mall is one of the essential stop for those who love the great brands and dress well.
Barberino Designer Outlet is situated in Mugello country side, about 50 mintutes (about 40 km) nortth of Casa Passerini. This is a full immersion into the world of the finest italian and french fashion brand top names. This is just heaven for you fashion addicts.

Cultural attractions and the surrounding countryside

Casa Passerini makes for an excellent departure point from where guests can set off to visit various art cities, including Florence, Pontassieve and Vicchio, to name but a few, unspoilt natural landscapes (such as that of the National Park of the Casentine Forest) and places of historic and artistic interest such as the sanctuaries of La Verna, Camaldoli and Vallombrosa, or the small town of Vicchio, birthplace of Giotto.

Firenze (38 km)

Florence (Italian: Firenze, Old Italian: Fiorenza, Latin: Florentia) is the capital city of Tuscany. It is the largest city in Tuscany and has a population of approximately 364,779. The city lies on the Arno River and is known for its art and architecture and its importance in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. A centre of medieval European trade and finance, the city is often considered the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance; in fact, it was once known as the Athens of the Middle Ages. It was under the de facto rule of the Medici family for many years. From 1865 to 1870 the city was also the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The historic centre of Florence continues to attract millions of tourists each year and was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1982.

Continue reading about Florence on Wikipedia

Parco Nazionale Foreste Casentinesi (Practically abuts on Casa Passerini)

Visitors who reach this national park coming through the dense and wild valleys of “alta Romagna” (the mountainous part of Romagna) or along the river Arno which runs through the Casentino valley, so rich in art and history, or through the imposing valley of the Falterona torrent on the Florentine side, experience the unique and unforgettable charm of one of the most ancient forests in Europe.

Continue reading about the Park on National Park of the Casentine Forest web site

Londa (7 kn) e Stia (30 km)

The peaceful village of Londa peeps out from the dense clusters of woodland of Mount Falterona. It nestles along the shores of the Rincine torrent which flows through to an artificial basin. The origins of the town go back to Etruscan times as is testified by several archaeological findings, including the “stelae of Londa”, which is of particular interest. The surrounding area, speckled with little hamlets, merits a visit, and worth a detour in particular are the beautiful Romanesque parish churches of St. Elena in Rincine and St. Leolino dating from the XI century. Stia is an important town nestling in the valley floor of the Casentino valley. It has to this day preserved some of the characterful alleyways of the ancient town which wends its way along the banks of the Staggia torrent, within close proximity to its confluence with the Arno. Highlights include the Romansque parish church of St. Maria Assunta with its finely carved columns supporting the three naves, the Palagio Fiorentino, built in the early 1900’s where an ancient castle stood and located in a prime central location in splendid gardens which hosts numerous exhibitions and conferences and the Fabbrica, a former wool factory of impressive proportions harking back to the glorious days of when the “Panno Casentino” (or Casentino woollen cloth) was highly sought after internationally.

Continue reading about Lona and Stia on National Park of the Casentine Forest web site

Sanctuary of La Verna (70 km)

The Franciscan Sanctuary of La Verna is located just a few kilometres outside Chiusi della Verna (in the province of Arezzo). It is said that it was there that St. Francis of Assisi received the stigmata on 17th September 1224.

The Monastery of Camaldoli (50km)

The village of Camaldoli is a frazione of the comune of Poppi in Tuscany. It is best known as the ancestral seat of the Camaldolese monastic order. The monastery can be still visited today. The Holy Hermitage and Monastery of Camaldoli is situated in a thousand year-old forest in the Tuscan Apennines. It was founded between 1024 and 1025 by Saint Romuald, a Benedictine monk, with the permission of Tedald, Bishop of Arezzo. In the monastery of Camaldoli there is a welcoming room, a great hall, and an old style pharmacy, which originally was a laboratory where friars studied and used medicinal spices and plants to cure the infirm in the old hospital which is open to visitors. The precious walnut decor dates back to 1543. The Baroque church houses works by Giorgio Vasari. A few kilometres away is the retreat of Camaldoli, known as Eremo di Camaldoli, which came into being shortly after the establishment of the monastery in order to host monks who were willing to give up their everyday lives for lives of silence and reflection in the middle of the forest.

Continue reading about The Monastery of Camaldoli on Wikipedia

The Abbey at Vallombrosa (40 km)

The Vallombrosan Order is an offshoot of the Benedictine Order. It owes its name to Vallombrosa, the mountainous and forested area about thirty kilometres distance from Florence. It was there that the Order’s founder, St. Giovanni Gualberto, retreated to at around 1036 together with a group of companions to relive with heightened passion the spirit of the rules of St. Benedict, dedicating themselves to prayer, work and the welcoming of pilgrims.

Continue reading about The Abbey at Vallombrosa on the Abbey official web site

Dicomano (12 km)

The small town of Dicomano is situated on the left bank of the River Sieve at the confluence with the Comano torrent, where the Mugello valley joins the Valdisieve and the valley of San Godenzo. The rich variety of landscape elements such as valley floors, hills and mountains incorporates waterways and chestnut, turkey oak and beech woods. Of the several notable places of interest worth a visit the town itself deserves a mention. The main road features a series of arches supported by quadrangular columns dating from the XVII century.

Vicchio (20 km)

Vicchio is the birthplace of two of the greatest renaissance humanism artists, Giotto and Beato Angelico. It is now universally accepted by modern day critics that Giotto was born in the village of Vespignano near Vicchio to a family of farm labourers. The house he was born in is visited every year by thousands of tourists. Beato Angelico was born in the hamlet of Rupecanina just a stone’s throw from Vicchio. His real name was Guido di Piero Tosini but he took on the name of Fra Giovanni when he became a monk and was soon to be commonly known as Beato Angelico because his art was regarded as “angelic” (most holy and divine), and long before he was canonized in 1984.

Bilancino Lake (25 km)

The man-made Lago di Bilancino is located in Barberino di Mugello, to the west of the Futa mountain pass on motorway 65. It is at the heart of an area of outstanding natural beauty, known also for its architecture. There are two building complexes of exceptional interest within striking distance – the Medici villas at Cafaggiolo (in the valley, and on the motorway) and Trebbio in the mountains on south westerly slopes. Both are immersed in rich and well conserved natural yet gentrified environment featuring woodland and cultivated land speckled with churches and country houses. This blessed area is endowed with buildings and little towns (such as the church and hamlet of San Giovanni in Petroio) from which one can admire panoramic views of this new and vast lake. Entrance to the dam and lake is signposted on the south easterly side and is accessed through the little hamlet of Bilancino, literally a cluster of 19th century houses dotted along the road which is a turning off the Futa mountain pass on motorway 65. Private beaches operative during the summer months dotted along the lake’s shoreline make it an ideal bathing spot in hot weather.

The September Fair

The annual Londa Village Fair takes place in the first week of September (8 km from Casa Passerini). It takes place in homage to the “regina di Londa” a white peach that ripens late in the season. An array of stands display platters of local gastronomic delicacies for people to sample, such as the polenta with a game sauce, tortelli, traditional Tuscan deserts and deep-fried pastries coated in honey.

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