The Collesu is located in Arezzo, Chianti, embraced by the woods of the Tuscan Apennine and plains of the Val di Chiana. It is perfect for a holiday in nature, or to feed the mind with beautiful landscapes.
Day 1:
We start looking for the cradle of wine: the Chianti, with its beauty, its history; home to illustrious citizens like Giovanni da Verrazzano, who discovered the bay of New York, or Amerigo Vespucci, the discoverer of the New World from whom America takes its name.
Greve in Chianti
The Greve's Mercatale, now called Piazza Giacomo Matteotti, with its characteristic funnel shape, is the heart of the town, and il has for centuries considered to be the meeting place which connected Florence to Siena, near the river Greve and the route of the Via Cassia. On the right side of the square the statue of Giovanni da Verrazano claim your sight.
The Chianti stands for its wine and cuisine, the spicy and flavorful butchery, enhanced by Falorni family, the flagship of meat and Tuscan salami.
Day 2:
Monteriggioni: fortified town
Monteriggioni is a magnificent example of a fortified castle that it is incredibly intact, as if time had never passed on that hill.
The town is located in the province of Siena, halfway between this amazing city and Colle Val d'Elsa. The perfect circularity of its perimeter is outstanding. It was built between 1213 and 1219 for purely defensive purposes, and dominates the area which faces the Via Cassia. The wall consists of 14 towers and two gates: the Porta Franca or Romea, facing Roma, and the Porta Fiorentina facing Florence.
Day 3:
The ascent towards spirituality, the search for ourselves immersed in the Casentino Forests, the Franciscan route.
The Verna Sanctuary
This place is one of the most significant for the religious life of St. Francis, since according to the Legenda Maior of St. Bonaventure and as portrayed in the Giotto's frescoes in the Louvre Pala and in the Franciscan Legend which is in the Basilica of Assisi, right here Christ revealed himself to St. Francis in the form of a seraph and gave him stigmate.
The structure of the Convent is a traditional architecture of the area, completely made of stone, and is surrounded by a forest of beech and fir trees which make it even more fascinating and mystical. The visitor who reach la Verna immediately feels wrapped, influenced and impressed by what this place transmits, so much that comes natural lower the volume od voice and walk with composure during the visit.
The most intense moment of reflection occurs in the visit of the "Sasso Spicco", a rock hanging on the mountain where the saint went to pray.