San Godenzo

San Godenzo is an ancient village located among the mountains of the upper Mugello, on the border between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna, at the foot of the Muraglione pass and Mount Falterona, between the Valdarno and the Valdisieve, immersed in the beech and chestnut woods of the Apennines. The village owes its name to the ancient Benedictine abbey, built in 1028 by the bishop of Fiesole, Jacopo il Bavaro, to honor the places where, in the 6th century, the hermit San Gaudenzio used to retreat for prayer and silence. The abbey, entrusted to the Benedictine monks, still represents the main point of interest of the place. A significant episode in the history of San Godenzo is linked to Dante Alighieri: on June 8, 1302, inside the abbey, he met with the Florentine exiles with the intention of planning their return to Florence, an attempt that, however, soon went up in smoke. Over the centuries, around the emerging village, the monks interacted with the vast wooded areas, creating timber reserves that would later supply Tuscany throughout its history. The area, characterized by beech trees and splendid chestnut groves, hosts plantations of centuries-old chestnut trees that have always been the basis of the mountain inhabitants' diet. As a testament to the cultural and artistic vitality of the area, in the hamlet of Castagno, nestled in a chestnut grove, the painter Andrea was born in the 15th century, known as "del Castagno". The painter's fame gained through his artistic activity led the village to change its name to Il Castagno d’Andrea, keeping alive the memory of its illustrious fellow citizen. Today, from the hamlet of Castagno d’Andrea, you can access one of the entrances to the National Park of the Casentino Forests, Mount Falterona, Campigna, established in 1993 and included in 2017 by UNESCO among the protected areas due to the great value of the ancient beech forests of Fratino and the Casentino biogenetic reserves.

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