Village guide Casentino, Arezzo, Italy
Chiusi della Verna
The mountain Francis was given
A high comune on the eastern rim of the valley, mostly forest, with a great rock at the top of it. In 1213 Count Orlando Cattani gave that rock to Francis of Assisi. In 1224 Francis received the stigmata on it. Eight centuries later people still walk up, and the beech woods are worth the climb even if you are not walking up for that.
- Comune
- Chiusi della Verna
- Where
- Open in maps
What to see
- The Sanctuary of La Verna A monastery built onto and into the cliff. Inside, some of the finest glazed terracotta the Della Robbia workshop ever made, in rooms where nobody is selling you anything.
- Il Sasso Spicco The overhanging rock below the sanctuary, dripping and cold, reached by a stair through the woods.
- Corezzo A small village down the other side, and the home of the tortello alla lastra.
- The beech forest Part of the Foreste Casentinesi national park. In autumn it is the reason people move to Italy.
What to eat
Tortello alla lastra: pasta rolled thin, filled with potato, and cooked on a hot stone slab. It is the single dish most worth crossing the valley for.
When to come
Autumn for the beech woods and the tortelli. Summer for the cool: it is several degrees below the valley floor up here, which in August is a gift.
In September the red deer rut in these forests and the stags can be heard roaring across the valleys. It is not a show put on for anybody.