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From Plautus to the Casentino Forests
...60 km route
From Sarsina, take the old state road 71 as far as Lake Quarto and San Piero in Bagno, then on to Bagno di Romagna. Drive back along the same road, after passing again through San Piero in Bagno, turn left and up to the Carnaio Pass (800 metres) along a scenic mountain road that leads to the Bidente Valley and Santa Sofia. Continue along the upper reaches of the river as far as Isola, then turn left until you come to the small village of Ridracoli.
Culture and nature
Sarsina dominates the Savio valley and owes its fortune to its strategic position between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic seas.
Of the period (266 B.C.) in which it was a major Roman municipium, traces remain that are housed in the town's interesting Archaeological Museum.
This is where Plautus, the famous Latin playwright was born. Bishop of the town during the Middle-Ages was Saint Vicinio, well known as a miracle worker and still evoked by visitors who don his century-old collar, which is kept in the beautiful Romanesque Cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore and San Vicinio.
Bagno di Romagna is a well-known and popular spa town, with sulphurous and bicarbonate-alkaline waters that spring from the rocks at a temperature of 45°.
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It boasts monuments such as the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta and the Palazzo del Capitano, seat of the regents sent by Florence to the far reaches of its territory. Santa Sofia is an entrance gate to the Casentino Forests Park, well illustrated in its documented and didactic Visitors' Centre. At Ridracoli, a pristine natural environment and the small restored village co-exist with the great dam on the upper Bidente valley, which has created the Ridracoli Lake. This supplies the Romagna Aqueduct and is a departure point for excursions along the ancient paths linking small abandoned villages of the higher Apennines and which pass through the Foresta della Lama, amid plants and animals of all kinds.
Food festivals
In the Easter period, at Sarsina, the Sagra della pagnotta pasquale (Festival of the Easter Loaf) is held to celebrate what is a delicious local cake: the Easter loaf. The thousand-year-old Festival of San Vicinio is staged on 28 August. On the third Saturday of August, at Bagno di Romagna, the Palio dei fuochi (Palio of the bonfires) is held while the religious Festa del Perdono (Festival of the Forgiveness) is staged on the second Friday of March. On Easter Monday, at Santa Sofia, the traditional Easter Monday Festival is held, while between 1-15 August, at Santa Sofia, the Agosto santasofiese event is celebrated. The Spring Festival is staged at Ridracoli in June.
Markets
Sarsina Tuesday
San Piero in Bagno Monday
Bagno di Romagna Friday
Santa Sofia Thursday |
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