Snowshoeing in the Foreste Casentinesi National Park

An enchanted landscape of snowy forests, stalactites of ice in all their transparencies, extending down from the rocks, a soft and white snow cover beneath our feet. We were neither in Northern Europe nor on the Alps, but in the Foreste Casentinesi National Park,  a mountain area in the Apenine region of Tuscany and Romagna. We went exactly to the Tuscan side of the Park, in the province of Arezzo, and spent a great day walking through the forests in snowshoes.

Our wonderful morning in the magic and snowy forests, so far away from the stressful everyday life, was accompanied by high trees –  beech trees, white firs and, here and there, some maples – as well as the tracks of foxes, hares and wolves that we had the possibility to see thanks to the indications of our fantastic guide, Francesca.

Our adventure in snowshoes was part of the programme offered by Cooperativa Oros tha on Saturday 31st January, 14 February and 14 March, organizes great excursions through the Park, and also rents snowshoes and poles (for the complete programme, unfortunately only in Italia, click  here). To spend a magic, safe and cheap day in the snowy forests, enjoy winter solitude, but also meet new people if you go with a group, you just need ski trousers and jacket, hiking shoes and to feel like enjoying a different recreational activity. Pictures can’t capture neither the beauty and  stillness of the landscape,  nor the magic feelings that only the experience itself can transmit.

The excursions start at 9h30 from the Visit Centre of the village of Badia Prataglia (AR), then the guide chooses the trail in an area covered by snow (not difficult to find, since in this area snowfalls are usually abundant) and then…let’s go snowshoeing!

Snowshoeing is very easy to learn, after the first few steps you’ll become very confident (as the saying goes, “If you can walk, you can snowshoe”), and ready to discover the stillness of forests in winter, the beauty of a pure white landscape, the sculptures of ice created by the Northern wind. All of this – also this – in our amazing Tuscany!

The itinerary and the GPS trail:

Ciaspolata Badia Prataglia

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