Longing for sun, sea, water, tanning but, let's be honest, interspersing all this with some different exploration certainly doesn't hurt. In fact, it also enriches the soul, as well as the body.
If you have booked a trip to Tuscany for this summer, don’t miss the opportunity to visit unique, unmissable and authentic places. Through this article we want to tell you about a magical place, perhaps not too well known, but that with its natural beauty, millenary traditions and a culture rich in history enchants visitors with its authentic charm. You can't wait to find out, right?
Porciano Castle is a historically significant and symbolic monument of its millenary history, which dominates the Casentino Valley, the valley of the Guidi Counts. It acts as a focal point on the border with the immensity of the Casentinese National Park, where the source of the Arno river is located on Mount Falterona. As in many other places in the Casentino area, even in Porciano there are many memories linked, even if not historically proven, to Dante Alighieri. It is said that in 1311 the poet went to Porciano for the first time to convince the Guidi Counts, who had always opposed the Florentine Guelphs, to support the newly crowned Emperor Arrigo VII and convince him to openly side with the Ghibelline side. Two famous letters from Dante left Porciano. The first, on 31 March 1311, intended for the Florentines, full of hatred and resentment after the exile to which he had been condemned, to invite them to submit to the Emperor. The second, on April 16 of the same year, to the Emperor to push him to crush Florence itself with weapons. Things didn’t go well, the Guidi Counts didn’t keep the promises of loyalty made to the Emperor, and the poet immortalized his contempt for the traitors in the XIVth canto of the Purgatory of the Divine Comedy. This caused the revenge of the Guidi who imprisoned Alighieri in one of the rooms of Porciano.
Referring to more recent history, Gene and Betsy Conti discovered the Casentino Valley in 2008, while looking for the perfect venue for their daughter Molly's wedding. Three years later, right at the Porciano Castle, a large wedding party was held between her and Will Volker. In 2021 the Volkers Counts, together with family and friends, then decided to buy the Castle and the houses in the village. The following year, Molly Conti and Will Volker eventually moved to Italy, together with their children, to manage the entire property as a period residence.
The tower of the castle, in addition to the owners' residence, houses a museum where objects of peasant life and archaeological finds relating to the history of the Castle of Porciano are kept. The museum housed in the Castle, on the other hand, is part of the Casentino Ecomuseum network.
A suggestion? Visit it in the late afternoon, when the sun's rays fade, but above all don't forget to take a picture taking advantage of this magnificent glimpse.