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Well, to be honest: I’m not a sportive person. I do not run, I do not do gym or zumba, nor I can ski. But when I read the ciaspolada program in the Emilia Romagna Tourism website I decided to take the chance and defy my phisique. Actually, when I went to visit the Parco delle Foreste Casentinesi last november I thought how charming would it be with the snow and kept the idea in the back of my mind.

So done: I wrote to Leo of www.fumaiolosentieri.it and planned my Sunday Ciaspolada ! It’s not easy to translate ciaspole in english (I’m not sure snowshoes is the right word) so I will show you how I was wearing them! And please, don’t laugh! This photo was taken by my friend Silvia!

romagna, cesena, 21grammy, ciaspolada

Me with the ciaspole!

Walking with ciaspole is like having a pair of rackets at your feet (so funny as it may appear) which helps a lot since the snow is not so tough and you won’t be able to walk in any different way! But at the same you do not feel very comfortable at the beginning.

Woke up very early in the morning to travel through the mountains towards the meeting point at Montecoronaro, a very small village near Cesena! The route is very linear (remember to take the E45 from Cesena to Rome, it’s the easieast one!) and allows me to watch the landscape: white and snowy mountains, normally covered by pinewoods, where everything stands still! But you know that in the forest animals are running, eating, living. Very few houses, scattered here and there, with the typical tuscan architecture. This part of Romagna was held for centuries by Florence, that is why we still call it Tuscan Romagna!

romagna, cesena, ciaspole, fumaiolo

My ciaspole!

Arriving to the meeting point I meet Silvia, a very nice girl, it’s -5° outside, though the sun is shining, and we decide to have something warm to drink, waiting for Leo and Tiziano, the two guys of Fumaiolo Sentieri. Before, I had to stop nearby to get my ciaspole (by the way, thanks a lot Monica of Botteghina for your kindness).  We are a little group, ten people more or less, nice people who love to walk in the wild and charming nature!

ciaspola, cesena, romagna, fumaiolo, ciaspole

The group!

We take the car to arrive a little bit higher and start the route, luckily enough I have good tires, my car go up very slow to avoid skating on the iced snow! And here we are, ciaspole on, we start the route.

romagna, ciaspole, cesena, fumaiolo

Where all begins!

The program is to walk a circle from Montecoronaro to Monte Castelvecchio till Savio River source! I ask Leo something about what we will see. I’m always waiting to see wild animals! And abruptly a hare runs in the distance in front of us. Here you can find wolves, deers, and lots of different birds. Martina helps me to see some of their traces.

cesena, ciaspole, romagna, fumaiolo

Hare traces

fumaiolo, cesena, ciaspole, romagna

Deer traces

Leo explains me that this is almost the unique place where cattles can stay in summer, infact it’s not a deep forest. In the meanwhile we reach a very wide upland where we can see Mountains of Bologna province and Florence province, too. It’s really unbelievable and Martina explains me that in clear days we can see down Italian Appennini, till Maremma!

romagna, forest, cesena, fumaiolo

The view toward Tuscany

bologna, cesena, romagna, fumaiolo

Looking to Foreste Casentinesi Park

The last step before going back is a stop at Savio River source. Wow, drinking this water so cold and pure, before it goes down the valley is like stepping back of ages, when no water supply was availble here.

river, cesena, fumaiolo

And the river flows

It’s time to go, just a moment to do a photo group and gather all my energies to walk back. I’m tired, really tired but believe me when I say you should let yourself conquer by this amazing and timeless nature that worth a visit in winter and in summer and takes you to an undiscovered stories!
Enjoy and follow my next post about one of the best eating places I run into at the end of ciaspolada!

The ciaspolers group!

A very big thanks to Leo, Martina, Tiziano and all the guys of www.fumaiolosentieri.it who helped me to understand what I was seeing!
Thanks to Monica of La Botteghina who offered me the ciaspole.
A big hallo to Silvia who made me some photos!
And a great thank to Il Pentagono who offered me one of the most interesting food experinces I’ve ever had!

Author

Alessandra

Writer and Travel Blogger. Strolls around Romagna with her little sheep. Curious about life and history!

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