Revised and Expanded for 2018 / 2019

Areas Steeped in History and Religious Significance

This guidebook takes you to many of the less visited sites in Central Tuscany in the valleys of the Casentino and Valtiberina. The Casentino is a heavily forested area in the mountains with natural, historical, and religious significance. The Valtiberina is near the eastern border of Tuscany with artistic significance from the Renaissance including the homes of Michelangelo and Piero della Francesca.

In the Casentino . . .

• Explore Subbiano, the gateway to the Casentino. Stay for a meal at the outstanding La Corte dell’Oca.
• Though Stia is barely large enough for a map, it has an outstanding wool museum tracing the use of wool as a fabric through the centuries.
• Explore the extraordinarily well-preserved castle and town of Poppi.
• Visit Santuario della Madonna del Sasso near Bibbiena to see the stone on which the Madonna appeared to a small child to warn of a coming disaster.
• Explore the secluded and peaceful Camaldoli Monastery and Hermitage high in the mountains deep in the forest. Bring a jacket.
• Visit St. Francis’s Santuario della Verna where he received the stigmata and slept on a rock ledge in a cave.
• Learn about the small Ecomuseums of Casentino.

In the Valtiberina . . .

• Walk all through the tiny medieval town of Anghiari perched on the side of the mountain with no traffic. Stop at the museum of the Battle of Anghiari to learn about the area and the lost fresco of Leonardo da Vinci.
• Walk among modern sculptures in the garden at the birth home of Michelangelo in Caprese Michelangelo.
• Visit old, flat, pedestrian only Sansepolcro with its collection of interesting churches and magnificent Museo Civico with several Piero della Francesca masterpieces.
• Examine Piero della Francesca’s restored fresco of Madonna del Parto in Monterchi.

Bonus Features:

• Authentic recipes from my Italian family.
• Navigatge via GPS coordinates to sites.
• Travel information including common courtesies, photography, the language, and more.
• A chapter on how to interpret religious art.
• Mobile accessibility information.