Sasso Fratino is a forest you are not allowed to enter, and that is precisely the point. High on the Romagna side of the Apennine ridge, in the national park of the Casentino forests, it was declared Italy's first integral nature reserve in 1959, and since then nature has been left almost entirely to itself. Ancient beech woods cling to steep slopes, with silver fir, maple and ash mixed in, and dead trees are left to rot where they fall, feeding fungi, beetles and birds. In 2017 it became part of the transnational World Heritage listing of ancient beech forests of Europe.
The surrounding park is open, and it is one of the wildest corners of central Italy. Wolves have returned, deer are everywhere, and in autumn the rutting stags bellow through the woods at dusk, a sound that stops you in your tracks. The monastery and hermitage at Camaldoli, founded by Saint Romuald around a thousand years ago, sit in the fir forest on the Tuscan side, and the sanctuary of La Verna, where Saint Francis is said to have received the stigmata, stands on its cliff not far away. Mount Falterona, where the Arno rises, is just to the north.
The roads through here are superb. From Stia and Pratovecchio in the upper Casentino, the road climbs to the Passo della Calla on the ridge and drops down the Romagna side to Santa Sofia, with an endless succession of bends through dense forest. Other routes to Camaldoli, Badia Prataglia and La Verna are just as twisty. Surfaces can be rough, wet leaves make the corners treacherous in autumn, and fog and snow are common in winter, when the pass can be closed. The light filtering through the beeches in October is something special.
Pratovecchio and Stia are the nearest villages, small but with services, and Bibbiena, down in the valley, is the place for a full tank and a choice of trattorias. Casentino specialities include tortelli stuffed with potato, mushrooms in season, and the thick wool cloth once woven at Stia. Respect the closed reserve and enjoy the forest from the many trails around it.