Village guide Casentino, Arezzo, Italy
Castel San Niccolò
Cut stone and cold water
The comune sits along the Solano stream under the Pratomagno, with Strada in Casentino as its everyday centre and a castle on the ridge above. This is stonecutter country: the men here shaped pietra serena for centuries, and the doorframes in the villages are their unsigned work.
- Comune
- Castel San Niccolò
- Where
- Open in maps
What to see
- The castle The old rocca above the valley, with the village of Castello huddled under it.
- Strada in Casentino The working centre, a bridge, and the stream running fast and cold underneath it.
- The stonecutters’ work Look at the doorways, the fountains, the window frames. It is a whole craft hidden in plain sight.
- The Pratomagno above Ridge walks with the Arno on one side and the Valdarno on the other.
What to eat
Cherries in early summer, mushrooms in autumn, and the kind of trattoria cooking that does not know it is being authentic.
When to come
Late spring, when the orchards are in and the Pratomagno is walkable again without a jacket.
Pietra serena is the grey stone of the Renaissance: the same stone that frames half the doorways in Florence was cut by men from valleys like this one.