LANDSCAPES AND PANORAMICS

A trip to Casentino guided by its landscapes

In the early 20th century, the English sisters Ella e Dora Noyes went on a journey through Italy, which was very popular at the time. Born in a wealthy family and considered a little bit extravagant and eccentric, they did not choose to visit important attractions such as the cities of art, but they opted for a pleasant territory of Tuscany, almost unknown: the Casentino. They reached this land passing through the Passo della Consuma, the historical communication mountain route between Casentino and Florence. Their first visit of this Tuscan land was therefore from above. The views and landscapes they saw allowed them to have a clear idea of the geographic conformation of this valley. Approaching Casentino, they surely spotted three castles: Romena, Porciano and Poppi, unmistakable identifiers of the valley to this day.
On the horizon, they saw from the very beginning – and constantly during their visit of Casentino, a spur coming out from the linear profile of the Appennino: the Mount Verna. Then the Noyes sisters visited the historic villages of this valley in eastern Tuscany, the most important but also the less known ones. One of them wrote about everything they encountered, the other painted. Thus they created a very pleasant guide to the Casentino. The illustrations blended perfectly with a poetic style. Each place the English sisters tell us about is preceded by a description of the surrounding landscape.
Perhaps it is the environment that struck the tourists across the Channel most. Even today, the visitor to the Casentino is immediately fascinated by its landscapes, by the views it offers us from its heights, whether small or large.
With these pages we will try to retrace the steps of the Noyes Sisters, at least we will begin a journey in this Tuscan land starting from the Strada del Passo della Consuma and heading south. The leitmotif of this journey will not be medieval castles, Romanesque churches, ancient villages. The landscapes will guide us, where castles, parish churches and villages are set like precious stones. Stones that would lose much of their value if removed from the environment where they are found.