Casentino

Description

The Casentino is a region of Tuscany situated in the upper Valdarno, between Florence and Arezzo. In Purgatorio V, Buonconte da Montefeltro mentions this place in the account of his death on the field of Campaldino, indicating it as the point where the Archiano stream flows in and where his body was swept away. In Dante's time the term seems to refer only to the northern part of the valley, as far as Bibbiena, whereas today the designation also extends further south, to the San Mama narrows. The area is also recalled in the verses of Purgatorio VI, where the Guidi counts who were its lords are mentioned, and in Inferno XIV, where the Casentino is the point of departure of the Arno's course before the river reaches Arezzo.