Monte Penna, a balcony on Romagna

A marvelous nature and panorama between Badia Prataglia and Camaldoli

Mount Penna, which is the destination of the easy excursion shown in this section, is located on the Tuscan-Romagnolo Apennine ridge, approximately half way between Badia Prataglia and the Hermitage of Camaldoli. These two places' construction took place in about the same period: the first one around 990 (even though we find it mentioned for the first time in 1002), while Camaldoli dates back to 1012. Badia Prataglia's foundations were laid by two Benedictine monks from Cassino, Camaldoli's by Romualdo. Romualdo, a Benedictine monk, with this new abbey instituted a sort of "ramification" of the order of Saint Benedict, the Camaldolese one indeed.
Both located in the heart of the Casentino Forests Park, these two places were built with the same intents, or at least very similar ones, but nowadays they arise totally different instead. Badia Prataglia looks as a mountain tourist centre: what remains of the ancient abbey is its wonderful church (that has undergone constructions during the centuries) with its suggestive crypt. Camaldoli's Hermitage, which has inevitably become a place of tourist attraction as well, is first of all a center of high spiritual value. It captures the tourist's interest with: the cloistered area characterised by the monks' cells, the church by its characteristic belfries, Saint Romualdo's cell and more.
Badia Prataglia and the Hermitage of Camaldoli are connected by a road, partly paved, partly not, which crosses the Casentino Forests. Driving the car on it is already enough to enjoy naturalistic glimpses of incredible beauty. About half way between these two localities, two hundred meters lower than the Fangacci Refuge, we find the Aia of the Guerrino (located at a height of 1224 meters). Here starts our excursion (stroll might be more appropriate for the fact it lasts just a little more than one kilometer), which, after about thirty minutes of walking among the spectacular aspects of this forest, will lead us to the evocative and charming "terrace" overlooking the Romagna, located on the top of Mount Penna (1333 meters). If we are enough lucky to find a very clear day (not so frequent during the summer), from up here it is possible to glimpse a small tract of the Romagnola Coast; however, watching the eagle flying in the cliff below us and hearing its cry (this is more frequent) is certainly a much more suggestive experience. In fact, this king of the birds of prey is present in the Integral Reserve of Sasso Fratino, which is a 760 hectares extension of the Casentino Forests Park, the Falterona Mount and Campigna. This extension is located on the Romagnolo Apennine slope, and therefore "at our feet". The access to this area, which is the first one of its kind in Italy (instituted in 1959) is very forbidden.