VISIONS OF TUSCANY

VILLAGE FESTIVAL

VISIONS OF TUSCANY

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ORTIGNANO - RAGGIOLO Between Bibbiena and Poppi, west of the Arno, in a crescendo of hills that rapidly develop into mountains, lies a valley magnificently remote from the present: Teggina. The lush green of its forests, the rushing stream, the constellation of walled villages and scattered farmhouses, a silence that makes one feel time has been suspended, all these combine to produce a diffuse sense of peace. From Ortignano the road climbs toward the Pratomagno, the imposing mountain that dominates the horizon with its ridges and spurs and solitary woodlands. The oldest part of the village of Raggiolo is on the right bank of the largest torrent, its tightly clustered houses emphasising the medieval passageway leading from the village to the feudal castle of the Guidis, now occupied by the Church of San Michele Arcangelo. In the middle of the little square, flanked by ancient stone benches, stands what was once the castle’s fountain. Above the fountain are the last remnants of the wall of the castle keep, today called la Bastia in memory of the community of Corsicans who, as tradition would have it, were brought here under the Grand Duchy to repopulate the zone. The water of the Barbozzaia Torrent supplied the energy to drive the mills, whose picturesqueness can still be admired today. The names of some of the nearby localities attest to the presence of Etruscans and Romans in days gone by. A place steeped in tradition and legends, Raggiolo remains attached to its past. As early as the 15th century, local growers developed a grade of chestnut called raggiolana.