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The history
If already Alpe della Luna and Badia Tedalda are
placed in a borderline position between Toscana and Marche, Sestino
is much more than that, so much that the Sasso di Simone, a bastion
of the homonymous Natural Reserve, faces its "younger brother"
laying in Marche Region.
The first human settlements in Sestino are
certified by the finding of flints, archaeological finds, Umbrian
and Etruscan inscriptions and manufactures of classic origin and the
Foundation of Roman Municipium of Sestinum.
It was instituted
for it was necessary to have an outpost on the Appennini mountains
as a check post of the local Umbrian people and the way of
communication between the Tevere Valley and the Adriatic Coast.
Plinio "the Old" states that that ancient Municipium was under
the 6th legion of the Augustan division that was placed in the
northern part in relation to the actual built-up area. The history
of Sestino referred to a tribe named Crustumina or Clustumina has
come to us by the several archaeological and epigraphic documents
dated since the beginning of the Imperial Age up to the end of 4th
century After Christ. |
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The found inscriptions refer to the members of
the Gens Volusenia, a rich and powerful family from Sestino existing
between the 1st century before Christ and the 1st after Christ.
Some important findings
have occurred by the actual Saint Pancrazio Parish Church built up
on the previously existing Augustan-Roman Curia.
There was the forum of
the ancient Sestinum and were found the main relevant finds that
nowadays are viewable by the Antiquarium Nazionale Sestinate
(National Antiquities Show in Sestino, AR – phone +39 0575 77 27
18).
These are the Sestino
Venus (1st century after Christ) found by a site that is thought to
be a frigidarium. | |
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Since the first years of 1900 up to the first
ten years of that century several other statues came out but the
most important and relevant discovery was characterized by:
Corinthian Capitals, stone blocks and slabs with fluted geometrical
decorations and fish representations in bas-relief.
All
that came and constituted a circle-based temple considered as
Palaeo-Christian. Some recent studies and a more correct
reconstruction led to consider it as a funerary building datable to
1st century before Christ.
Nowadays only the apse is left
from the ancient building of the Romanic parish church of Saint
Pancrazio. Everything else has been subjected to several
modifications for its preservation in the ages.
A Roman marble cippus and
a Giotto style Cross by the Rimini school (XIV century) are
preserved inside the religious building. |
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NATURE
The Natural Reserve of Sasso di
Simone
It lays across the valleys of the Foglia and
Marecchia rivers and is featured by the integrity of different
ecosystems and by the presence of stations of local tree and flower
species.
The gullies of coloured clays offer
gashes of a "moon gorge" to those who venture on walks and
excursions. The different prairies, excellent pastures for Chianina
in the Springtime are variously painted with uncountable types of
plants and flowers.
Some easy paths guide the lovers of
nature and excursions to discover unique natural panoramic terraces
that allow them to pass from Adriatic sea to Amiata mountain, from
Euganei hills up to Conero mountain.
The calcareous massif of Sasso di
Simone is a box of millenary souvenirs. It was inhabited in the
Neolithic Eve and it was a natural sign on the Pilgrims ways along
the Romea way. | |
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As a bastion of strategic importance it was
contended among Fiorentine Republic, Duchies of Urbino, State of
Church and local lords.
The ruins of the fortress town, wished by Cosimo
the 1st on the half of 16th century, on the top of Sasso di Simone,
evoke a historical season rich in events for the political-military
balances among various States.
The surfacing of stones blocks nowadays
along with tracks of walls through vegetation let the visitor assume
the setting of houses and barracks; grass paths
still design the probable net of ways in past eves.
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The Faunal
Park of Ranco Spinoso…to "taste" the territory
Various paths of easy practicability offer
spectacular landscapes always different to tripper: the wood, the
prairie, the gullies the calcareous massifs.
The joy of walking along
ancient roads of merchants and pilgrims spangled with towers and
castles whose rests are witness of eves rich in tensions and
military facts.
The routes, besides on foot are suggested to be
practiced even by horse or mountain bike.
The Concerning Faunal Park represent a
wonderful balcony over Marche region valleys and it is suggested to
the one who wants to pass a journey to the open air.
It is 4 km far from
Sestino and it extends throughout a fenced in area of about 50
hectares. There you can observe: Bucks, Fallow deers, Roe deers and
Moufflons from suitable observation points equipped for any
eventuality (from the temporary stop to barbecue for lunches in the
Nature).
To enter you need booking
previously. Some local welcoming structures can host tourists who
wish to spend their own holidays in this land.
Useful Numbers
Info-centre of the Visit to
Natural Reserve of Sasso di Simone
- Phone +39 0575 –
77.27.18
- facsimile +39 0575 77.26.15
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Local food
& wine culture
A home made cooking based on typical
products can satisfy the most exigent palates; in the springtime the
delicate Prugnolo mushroom grows in circles in the
plains included among wood areas.
The collected samples in that land,
besides being tasted in local restaurants or in the houses they
serve to feed the supplies of the country fair that every year is
set up in the underneath village of Tuscan High Tevere Valley: Pieve
Santo Stefano. |
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In the Autumn the prestigious
white truffle can be found in the restaurants of Sestino and you can
taste it along with local first courses featured by home made pasta
as tradition suggests; otherwise the "younger brothers" of the white
truffle: the summer black (or "scorzone" – transl. thick-skinned
truffle) and Marzuolo (March truffle) proudly go with the good cuts
of Chianina meat locally grown.
The history of that breed in
Sestino is documented even by findings of stelae that represent the
shape even with their own horns and inscriptions that "have" it as
born in Sestino. As to justify that above an Italian tradition
saw people, usually living in difficult places up in the mountains
(Appennino), coming down to the sea with their own heads of cattle
searching for luck, job and food: that was called transhumance.
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The bovine samples lead to the long pasture were Chianina
Breed
. Every year, at the end
of September in Ponte a Presale (a site near Sestino) the
National Show Fair of Chianina Cattle-breed grown in a
Half-wild State is set up.
Moreover, some local producers offer the chance to
purchase directly: cheese, cottage cheese, salami, fresh
meat, v
and earth genuine products.
The cultivation of olive
trees
hardly reaches Sestino up high but the fruits are not
subjected to attack by the fly or spoiled anyway thus granting an
excellent product.
Useful
numbers
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The
Recipes
Lard-filled truffles
Ingredients for 4
people: 12 small white truffles – 12 lard slices – 12 bread
slices – cognac- butter
Preparation: Let 12
white truffles marsh in cognac for about 1 hour. Make a roll of lard
with each truffle and wrap it in some oiled and buttered paper. For
that recipe the main element is a wood fed fire by which you can
take a little cinder to bury the truffles in for about half an hour.
Leave them off the paper then and serve hot over some grilled slices
of bread. | |
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Truffles and Mushrooms
salad
Ingredients for 6
people: 200 gr. of lettuce, 30/40 gr of tuscan truffle, 150
gr. of small pore mushrooms, 400 gr of field mushrooms, 300 gr. of
medium seasoned Tuscan sheep cheese (Pecorino), a lemon, parsley,
extravirgin olive oil, salt and pepper as enough.
Preparation: clean
mushrooms well, carefully wash them and cut them in very thin
slices, do the same with lettuce. Cut off the crust of pecorino
cheese and cut it in very thin slices too, Join everything together.
Mince the parsley and mix it with the rest of the ingredients in a
salad bowl. Prepare the dressing apart by mixing oil, lemon juice,
salt and pepper and by that dressing that you obtained dress the
salad. Spread some raped truffle over it and serve. |
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Pork chops of the oil
mill
Ingredients for 6
people: 600 gr. of rump cut in slices, 2 eggs, 1 small bush
of minced parsley along with a clove of garlic, 1 can of mashed
tomato, 2 spoonful of minced capers, 4 spoonful of olive oil, 2
meat-broth dices, enough oil for frying, Salt, pepper, breadcrumbs
and white wine.
Preparation: lightly
beat the rump slices. Shake the eggs with a little salt in a soup
plate, then roll the slices in the breadcrumbs. Put a pan on the
flame with a little oil: as long as it is hot put the breadcrumbs
covered slices there, let them brown on both sides and then, by a
holed shovel leave them off and put them on a absorbing paper sheet,
so that they loose the surplus of oil. Now pour the olive oil in a
medium sized pan: join the capers, the minced garlic and parsley,
let them fry slowly and then add the mashed tomato, both meat-broth
dices crumbed and let the whole cook for about ten minutes mixing
over from time to time. Put then the cooked slices one by one in a
row, sprinkle them with dry white wine and let the cooking ends up
for 20 minutes on, over a low power flame.
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Chestnut Cake
Ingredients for 6 people: gr. 400 of
sweet chestnut flour, gr. 100 of raisins, gr. 50 of pine nuts,
6 nuts, Rosemary, 2 sugar spoons, some orange speel, some olive
oil, a bit of salt.
Preparation:
sieve the chestnut flour and put it in
a soup tureen. Add sugar, salt, a spoon of orange speel and
half a litre of water. Mix so that you obtain
a melted and without lump batter. Add two olive oil spoons and let it
stand for one hour. Oil a baking-tin and put the batter in it (batter
should be about one inch high). Sprinkle it with rosemary, wet
raisins, shuck pine nuts and shuck nuts. Wet it with olive oil and
put it in the hot oven for about 40 minutes.
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where to sleep
Ciboviaggiando suggests: