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Casentino and Pratomagno
Forests, high peaks, retreats and convents
The wildlife in this area is beautiful and perhaps one of the richest in all of Tuscany. The trips are held between the National Park of the Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona e Campigna, the National wild-life reserve of Vallombrosa (the largest in Tuscany) and Saint Anthony's ANPIL Forest (Natural Area Protected by Local Interest).
Fir and beech forests, ideal habitat for animals like different species of deer, wolves and eagles, meadows with splendid gentians and anemones, a mountain range that reaches 5440 ft. with the Monte Falco, the highest of the Apennines in this area, represent the background to distances of rare beauty and solitude.
The Falterona Mountain (5426 ft.) too, from which the Arno River rises, the picturesque falls of Acquacheta, the Monastery of Camaldoli, the La Verna Sanctuary and the Penna Mountain are destinations of great historical, artistic and naturalistic interest.
The Pratomagno mountain chain (pre-Apennines with peaks reaching between 3950 ft. and 5223 ft., the Cross of Pratomagno) spreads from Val di Sieve to Arezzo. Silent meadows surrounded by forests of oak and downy oak trees, further up by chestnut, conifers and beech trees form a fascinating microworld.
Immersed between fir and beech forests, the Vallombrosa Abbey was built in the 11th Century. Since the 1600s the Benedictine monks of the Abbey have dedicated themselves to the cultivation of white firs and the selection of medicinal herbs. The abbey's famous pharmacy, the splendid woods and the impressive Secchieta Mountain beech forests represent exceptional destinations for fascinating walks among leaves and pristine meadows.
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