Rocca San Casciano

Paths of land and water. City of a thousand souls and innumerable spectacles during the magical nights of the bonfire festival. Panoramas that open out over the valley of the Montone river and landscapes that explode in colours and scents, in a succession of paths.

The origins of Rocca San Casciano date back to the Middle Ages, when the ancient town was identified with the church San Casciano in Casatico, the ancient name of the river Montone. The history associates it with the rule of the Counts De 'Calboli,  for a long time under the rule of the bishop of Forlimpopoli. From 1381 the destiny was linked to that of Florence, until the town was aggregated to the Province of Forlì in 1923.

The position between Valdarno and Romagna makes it an important administrative and judicial centre. Damaged several times by violent earthquakes that have destroyed the symbols of its past, such as the medieval fortress called "Castellaccio", which stands in the upper part of the hamlet, but now reduced to a cumulus of ruins, Rocca San Casciano conserves however, the 1600s Bridge, the only structure to have stood up to the Montone River.

Surrounded by miles of hiking trails at the doors of the Foreste Casentinesi National Park amongst the shades of mountain range there are opportunities for walking trails, canoeing, or walking with snowshoes or hiking boots, armed with a backpack and a bottle, or riding a mountain bike or riding a horse.

Rocca San Casciano is the town of propitiatory rituals that once marked the passage from winter to spring and today they re-emerge in the genuine, popular and folk soul of feasts.

Inserted in the Acquacheta mountain community, which includes the communal territories of the valleys of Montone and the nearby Tramazzo, the ancient historic centre of Rocca San Casciano develops around the square from 1200 with its original triangular shape, paved in Tuscan terracotta and enclosed by arcades .

In the central nucleus we find Palazzo Pretorio from 1350, the civic tower with the clock from 1500 and the church of Suffragio which encloses the artistic treasures from the abbey of St. Donatus (a bas-relief in stone depicting St. Donatus and Ellero ). The church of Santa Maria delle Lacrime is located just a few steps away, so called in honour of the ancient prodigy of the weeping statue of the Madonna with the child, according to the religious tradition on January 17, 1523.

On a hill not far away from the town stands the abbey of S Donatus in Soglio, an ancient Benedictine monastery dating back to 1100, showing the Romanesque bas-reliefs depicting the four evangelists on the exterior.