the Sky above Le Ripe

night sky, late summer...

...the milky way above

Of Monks and Forests

The Casentino Forests and Camaldoli

Our jaunt to the Casentino was largely motivated by a practical question. How best to care for, safeguard, sustain and conserve the woodland at Le Ripe? The guardians of the Casentine Forests might have some answers. We had also heard that the forests are well worth a visit.

The Casentine Forests, a national park covering 36,800 hectares, are renowned for their extension, beauty and age - and for enjoying, for at least eight centuries, the guardianship of various communities of monks. Saint Francis of Assisi chose La Verna as a place of prayer in 1224 and two centuries earlier, in 1012, the Benedictine Saint Romuald, who spent most of his life founding hermitages all over Italy, chose a south-facing hillside in the heart of beech and fir forests in the southern Casentino as one of his last works. 

Saint Romuald, detail from Fra Angelico's Crucifixion and Saints,St Mark's Florence, 1441-2

The territory, known as Campus Maldoli, after its landowner, became Camaldoli over time. Here Romualdo built five cells for hermits and, further down the hillside, founded a monastery to offer hospitality for travellers and those in search of spiritual peace. This double function persists today, with 8 monks leading their life of prayer and work in the hermitage and 22 monks taking care of hospitality and the more material aspects of life in the monastery below. There is a flourishing commercial aspect to the complex, which sells elegantly-packaged cosmetics, edibles and ceramics.

Antica Farmacia and its products recall the more famous one in Florence: but this is possibly older

The 'Casentino' denominates a broad valley in the province of Arezzo, east and north of Florence, through which the infant river Arno flows. The Casentino is separated from the upper Valdarno by the massif of Pratomagno. Soci, Stia, Poppi and Bibbiena lie in the valley and are still famous for their centuries-old production of panno feltrato or felted wool cloth  which was first created for the Camaldolese monks. But behind and above these towns rise the forested hills and mountains we had come to visit. The best is almost invariably in the hills.

The Perfect Woodstack

Zen 

and the 

Art of Building a Woodstack

Monteriggioni Meditation

Doves, horses, donkeys, geese - and yoga

 

The drive from Le Ripe to Monteriggioni is one of Tuscany's finest, along the 222 to Castellina and then west down through open, rolling vineyards, olive plantations and wheatfields to the Val d'Elsa.

Monteriggioni is unmistakable, sitting on its hill above the highway like a crown, to paraphrase Dante. From this small hilltop town you can continue on to Siena or deviate to San Gimignano, as the pilgrims of the Via Francigena used to do; the signs are still there today for those who wish to retrace the pilgrims' path.

And yet, if you are searching for peace, quiet and a different perspective on life you might decide to turn right toward Gallinaio along an unsealed road.